The IRL Misadventures of G1
by G1 ArchAngel
Summary: How do I sum this up? "Let me do it then!" Ram, chill. I'll figure it out. So basically, I now have seven girls from another dimension that so happens to have contained my OC. I'm just glad that they brought their own money. I'm broke enough as is. "Yeah you are." Really, Ram? You're doing this in the summary? "Where else would I?" Fair dues...(M because I have no filter)
1. And so it Begins

Chapter One: And so it Begins

Everyone who goes to read this should know that G1 and company got sucked into a vortex while at the beach at the end of Welp, this is a Thing. I should know, because I wrote it. The only ones to show up in the sequel were the boys, though. "What happened to the others?" you may have asked. Well, let this story serve as a chronicle of mine, explaining the year I spent with my OC's wives, children, and girlfriend. This will also have bits pertaining to the fact that Johnny and Storm also spent a year with Plutie and Neptune and Gear respectively.

It was the day before classes restarted for the fall semester. A Sunday, to be more precise. I was just hanging out in my room, talking to Nick (The Gamemaster or whatever his fanfic username is) and Bryce (0n3dgeGaming) on Skype. To time stamp, it was around two o'clock. We had just got talking about Bryce's Pokémon crossover. I found it funny, given the fact that I was watching dubbed Pokémon Go comics. The light in my room grew stupid bright for some reason. When it died down, I was not the only one sitting on my bed. Noire, Vert, Iffy, Blanc, Rom, and Ram were just there. All clad in swimwear. That's it. Nothing else. Not even some towels. I'm not complaining, but it doesn't change the fact that it's weird. Either way, how the hell am I going to explain this to Mom?

"Hello!? Are you even listening to us!?" Noire asks loudly.

"Oh…Uh…Yeah…But you need to quiet down. I'm not exactly alone in the house right now." I held a finger to her lips as I spoke. BTW, they're soft.

"You sound familiar." Blanc said.

"*Sigh*…We need to get our collective shit together. Make it less likely for my mom and step-dad to freak the fuck out."

"He kind of looks like Dad. But he's too fat to be him." Ram snarked.

"Well thanks, kid. Way to make me feel worse about myself than I already do."

"Please don't feel bad…" Rom pleaded cutely.

"To be fair, you have hair most girls would kill for." Vert said, running her fingers through my hair from behind. "But I believe introductions are in order. My name is Vert." As she introduced herself, she pressed against my back.

"Why is everyone obsessed with my hair? I get this all the time…"

"I'm Noire." She stated simply.

"Blanc. Vert, get off his back." She demanded.

"He hasn't complained." She countered. Blanc started staring right at me.

"This…is comfortable, albeit awkward." I muttered.

"I'm IF. Nice to meet you."

"Same."

"I'm Ram, and this is Rom!"

"Hi…"

"And now things get weird as hell…My name is Steven Stanton." They all locked up. "Yeah. But wait, there's more. Things are going to get even stranger for you."

"How so?" Iffy asked.

"It's like this." I reached under my bed and pulled out a couple of artist's sketchbooks. "I'm the guy who wrote the lives that you know. Sort of. I'm a fanfiction writer, and the fourth wall breaking Neptune did wasn't exactly wrong."

"So, we've been with an OC of yours that just happened to have your name?" Blanc asked, putting the pieces together.

"It's more of a self-insert, but yes."

"What about Johnny and Storm?" Vert questioned.

"They're real too. I haven't physically met them, but I'm pretty sure you already know that."

"Yeah, we've heard. So, what now?" Noire asked.

"Hm…Hey, Mom! We need to talk!"

"What is it!?" She called back from downstairs.

"I think it'd be easier if you just come up here!" She reluctantly made her way up and stood outside my door, looking at the seven others in my room. "Who are they and how did they get in here?"

"Read some of this. It'll explain a little bit better than I could." I said, tossing her one of the books. She skimmed through it, and her eyes widened a bit, looking up to see if their descriptions matched what I wrote. At least, that's what I'm assuming.

"Can you all please leave? We need to talk." The girls complied and left the room.

"You can probably find some actual clothes in my sister's closet! I don't think she'd mind!"

"What are we going to do? They can't stay here."

"They have to, Mom. Where else can they go? It's not like they, you know, exist here."

"That's not what I mean. We don't have the space or the money to house them."

"You don't have to worry about paying for us. Whatever brought us here changed our credits into whatever these are." Iffy said from behind my mom, holding up a large wad of one hundred dollar bills. She had grab a pair of my sister's skinny jeans and a simple red t-shirt.

"Some of them could take Megan's bed while the others take mine. I'm cool with sleeping on the floor. Won't be the first time."

"That would be rude of us. We couldn't make you do that." Vert said, joining Iffy.

"You were listening in from my sister's room, weren't you?" I asked, staring at the goddesses and plus one that were now all in the hallway. They had put on a variety of the clothes that my sister had left behind when she went to SUNY Canton. They collectively looked down in shame.

"Fine, whatever. Just make sure to take them shopping for clothes and food at some point." My mom walked off, a tad bit angry, and I beckoned the girls back in.

"You can hang up your bathing suits in the bathroom. I'm going to go change my sheets since you soaked them." They left the room to take care of their clothes and I did as I said. When we all came back in, there was one question on my mind. A rather important one. "How are you guys going to split up?"

"Noire and Vert are staying with you. The rest of us are staying in your sister's room. Got a problem with that?" Blanc asked, getting on the defensive.

"No…Why would I?" I took a moment to think over everything that has happened and realized something rather important. "We're going to need to pull out some more pork chops…" I ran down and grabbed some more out of the freezer. I wound up talking with Tehg until dinner time writing another chapter in Google Docs. The girls even had me add some good suggestions of theirs. He freaked out a bit when he heard them. I have four chapters raring and ready to go. We had pork chops with rice, fresh green beans and sliced cucumbers. To say that dinner was awkward was an understatement. The uncomfortableness was palpable. The rest of the night was spent just talking and watching YouTube videos. The latest episode of Yes Yes Love Adventure Go! was a big hit. I think they were trying to see how close I was as a person to the one they knew. I looked up at the clock and saw it was nine thirty.

"Alright. Looks like I need to head to bed. I've got a class in the morning that starts at nine and I've got to get up early so I have time to get ready and walk to the junction."

"The junction? What's that?" Ram asks.

"It's where all the buses from the different routes meet up so people can get to most places within the area." I explained.

"Why do you walk there if there's a bus?" Noire asked.

"You see this belly?" I said, grabbing my gut through my shirt. "I need all the exercise as I can get, and it's about a two mile walk. Takes half an hour. Forty minutes, tops."

"Oh, okay. Goodnight, Dad." Iffy stopped dead in her tracks as she was leaving my room. "S-Sorry…It slipped."

"It's okay, Iffy. It's fine if we're not in public." I said, giving her a sad smile. This must be hard for all of them.

"Goodnight." She left, and Blanc, Rom, and Ram followed, saying goodnight as well. With them gone, there was now room for me to flop down onto my back, ready for the gentle embrace of sleep to take me.

"This has been one hell of an afternoon." I sighed.

"That's a term for it." Noire said, laying down to my right.

"I agree." Vert said, doing the same on my left. Both had pressed themselves to my sides.

"Um…What are you two doing…?" I asked and they flinched before scooting away.

"Sorry. It's a force of habit." Vert said.

"I guess it would be for you two, after so many years of my neediness. Come on, move back. I can already tell that I'll have to get used to this anyway if you two are going to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Noire asked.

"As long as you two are okay with it." I said to them.

"We've been over this, haven't we?" She asked. "This is just something we all have to adapt to."

"As long as my mom doesn't walk in on this, it should be fine."

"Why do you say that?"

"Vert, I haven't been this close to a girl like this, let alone two very attractive ones. I'm really pitching a tent right now." I said chuckling.

"Glad to see some things haven't changed." Blanc said with a smile, opening my door.

"Blanc? What's up? It hasn't even been that long." I asked, questioning the bluenette.

"We need an extra comforter. IF is going to go down and sleep on a couch. She walked in and said it was too warm."

"Megan's room is an oven. Extra pillows and stuff are in the closet in the hallway next to the bathroom." I turned to my two bed mates. "Are you sure we've been over this? I'd remember a conversation like that."

"You were a bit occupied with the twins and YouTube." Noire said, trying to jog my memory.

"Oh yeah…Right…"

"Go to sleep, Steven, so you can get up in the morning." I reached over with my foot and turned the light off with my big toe. The only sounds that were the fan, the air conditioner, and our breathing. It was quite soothing, actually. I fell asleep the quickest that I had in a long time. I woke up to my alarm going off at five thirty. It was a real struggle to get free from the two. They had rolled over and latched onto me in their sleep, so I had to fight my way out of their grip so I could get ready for the day and turn off the infernal noise making machine. The morning went without incident, except for me sleepily bumping into an equally sleepy Iffy. We both stood at the doorway of the bathroom, rubbing our foreheads. And like that morning, the week flew by. Classes were boring, and it was like we had always had the seven in my house. Even my mom and Ken get along nicely now.

"Ah, wonderful Fridays…How I missed you…" I said, sprawling out face first onto my bed.

"Was your first week really that bad?" Ram asked.

"Not bad, but these early morning wake ups are slowly killing my soul."

"Can we please go shopping? I don't think your sister would like that we keep wearing her clothes…" Rom asked.

"How would we all get there? The cars only seat five people apiece and taking the bus would cost more than what it's worth." Noire stated.

"We could take two." Iffy suggested.

"But out of all of us, I'm the only one of us who can drive legally." I countered. "When my mom gets home, we can ask her to take is after dinner. We should be able to all fit then."

"Finally! You're sis' clothes are weird." Ram exclaimed.

"At least you had something to wear. You should be more thankful." Blanc said.

"I am, Mom. I'll thank her later." Ram said with a small smile. Megan called at one thirty, since I get done at noon on Fridays. We talked for almost half an hour. Ram and the others thanked her, just like how Ram said. At around five, we had potato stroganoff Hamburger Helper for dinner. From there, we went to the mall and my suffering lasted for several hours. Three, to be exact. It wasn't too bad at first. They had me and Mom give our opinions on outfits and what not, seeing as how they didn't know this world's fashion. The only time things went bad was when it was time for the more mature girls to go underwear shopping.

"Where is a good place to get underwear?" Vert asked.

"Megan usually goes to Victoria's Secret." My mom told them.

"I'll stay out here with the twins." I immediately said.

"Fine. I'll take them." They walked into the establishment fairly calmly. That lasted for all of three minutes. My mom came out of the store with Blanc. She sat down next to the twins as Blanc grabbed the back of my shirt.

"Please don't." I begged. It is a well-known fact that if a guy is alone in any way, shape, or form inside of a women's underwear store, he is immediately seen as a creeper by everyone else in the store. Employees included. I sat there for an hour in the back of the store, as the four came out of the dressing rooms and showed me their choices for approval. I was never a religious man, but I was praying to anyone that would listen to make it end. It may have been a week, but they were still strangers and that made the whole situation uncomfortable. They had completely forgotten that I was not the guy they were used to being with and as such, didn't have the mental fortitude for this. I felt like if I went to a pet store, the lizards would flock to me. We finally left the establishment to see that my mom had taken the two girls to Auntie Anne's for pretzels. Without us! How dare she!? With all said and done, we got back to the house around nine. I didn't even have the chance to go into my room to charge my phone and stuff when they slammed the door in my face. When it opened, all seven were in their pajamas. Vert had changed into an elegant light green nightgown, Noire was in a black tank top and short shorts, Rom and Ram had on simple blue and pink nightgowns respectively, Iffy chose a black sports bra and silver athletic shorts, and Blanc just had a long white t-shirt.

"Is that it, Blanc?"

"Why are you asking? You were there when I got this."

"I thought it was part of a lazy day outfit of yours."

"That makes sense." She said before plopping down onto my bed and sitting in just the right way to show me what was underneath the shirt. If it was on purpose or not, I'll never know.

"Do you have anything like that Hulu thing Ken has?" Iffy asked, taking my mind off of the show and onto something that I've been meaning to re-watch for a while now.

"Yeah, I've got Netflix. I have something in mind, too, but it's not too appropriate for these two." I said, putting a hand on each of the twins' heads.

"Bring it on! We can take it!" Ram cried out.

"Uh-huh…We aren't scared…"

"Oh, it's not scary at all. It's just mature humor."

"So…You…?"

"Sort of, Noire. The different is that he's a professional. For example, he has a poem called _I Fuck Sluts_."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. So, do I have the okay from the parents in the room?" Vert and Blanc nodded their heads. "Okay then." I turned on my Xbone and started up Netflix. I scrolled through my continue to watch list, seeing as how I never sit through the credits, until I found what I was looking for. "Tonight's video will be Bo Burnham's 'What.'." And so weekly movie night became a thing, all because of a comedian that I should not have introduced children to. We all fell asleep shortly after I turned off my Xbox. Vert and Noire were in their normal spots, Blanc decided that my chest makes a wonderful mattress, and Rom, Ram and Iffy curled up wherever they could by my legs. In other words, a light sleeper's worst nightmare. It took me so long to fall asleep.

 **So this came up spur of the moment, even though I wrote this over the course of the week by hand. I realized that it gave me an opportunity to set up for the ending of We're Really Doing this Again and to avoid having to write all of it in the canon story. In other words, I'm lazy. So, until I have the free time to write again, see ya.**


	2. A Weekend to Remember

Chapter 2: A Weekend to Remember

 **So…Yeah…This was a long time coming. When I started this, I said I'd do it at my leisure, but I didn't think that it'd take me well over a month to write this. So, I'm doing a thing this chapter. You'll obviously know what it is when it gets there, and I plan to fully explain myself after the chapter is done. No spoilers. That's no fun. I'm also calling it now, that whoever does end up reading this thing is going to call bullshit on my reasoning. Now that my piece is said, ON WITH THE SHOW!**

I woke up the next morning, and looked up at the clock. It read nine thirty. Awesome…I sat up without the usual resistance my two bed-mates normally provide. Early risers, I guess. With the small situation my half-asleep mind created and then solved done with, I went to take a shower. I took one step into the bathroom before having to stop.

"Aw…Who's a cute kitty…? You are~! Yes you are~!" Pivoting on one foot, I saw that Noire was laying on my sister's bed, cuddling Abby. Abby is one of the two cats and four animals that currently inhabit my house. For the past few days, the two have been hiding because they aren't the most social of cats and don't like being around strangers. Abby was purring loudly as Noire ran her hand along the cat's spine.

"Morning, Noire."

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. I see you found yourself a friend."

"Mmhmm…It's about time. I was beginning to feel a bit jealous of the twins. How come your dogs like them more than us adults?"

"Those dogs are weird as hell. Don't feel bad about it."

"Blanc made pancakes for everyone. Hopefully there's still some left. Last time I checked, Ram was trying to drink the syrup."

"She would be the one to do that. Are we sure that Vert didn't have a part in making them? I don't want to die of food poisoning today." I walked downstairs and into the dining room, forgoing my morning shower. I can take one tonight. As I stepped into the room, Blanc was standing there, waiting for me with a plate of pancakes and some bacon.

"Here. I figured you'd be hungry and would come down when Noire told you that I mad pancakes."

"Thanks." I sat down and put butter and syrup on my pancakes as I munched on a strip of bacon. "So, what are the plans for today, mom?"

"I'm going to lunch with Carmen, and then taking her to Frog Pond. I'll probably be gone all day."

"Who's Carmen…?" Rom asked.

"And what's a Frog Pond?" Ram added.

"Carmen is one of Deb's friends from work." Ken answered. "And the Frog Pond is a sort of farmer's market. You can get fresh fruits and vegetables there."

"Oh…Cool…" Ram said, not sounding impressed at all.

"Well, I hope you have fun." I said through bites of sugar covered breakfast. As I finished up, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Johnny had sent me a message over Facebook.

'Get on Xbox. We need to talk.'

'Ooookay…? Sure…' Not a moment later, Storm sent me a text.

'G1, get on Xbox.'

'Let me guess, we need to talk?'

'How'd you know?'

'Johnny. I'll be on in a sec.'

"Why's your phone going off like that?" My mom asked.

"Some friends want to talk. I'll be upstairs. Girls, I have the feeling that you'll be needed too." The six of us went up, but stopped at my sister's room.

"Noire, we are all needed in Stevie's room." I completely forgot Vert called me that. God dammit.

"What's with that face?" Blanc asked.

"That nickname, and all its variants, will haunt me forever…"

"So I've heard…Stevie Smooth…" She said with a smile.

"Oh for fuck's sake…" We walked into my room, Noire still holding Abby, and started up the Xbone. As soon as I punched in my password, I was bombarded by party invites from the two nerds I call my friends. "Alright, so stay quiet for a bit. Don't need Storm losing his shit. He's crazy enough as it is." Before I did anything, I changed my settings so that the chat sound played through the TV speakers.

"Why would he do that?" Iffy asked.

"He's the one that introduced me to your guys' franchise in the first place. That, and he plays the games almost religiously."

"Oh…That could be a problem…" Rom concluded quietly. I pressed the join option on one of the messages and was immediately assaulted by the loud voice that is Johnny.

"G1! You'll never guess what happened this morning!"

"What?"

"Well, you know how the me in your story did the thins with Plutie?"

"Yeah…What about it?"

"Now that Plutie is currently chilling on my couch."

"Same with me, but with Neptune and Nepgear."

"Huh…Gear's with you, Storm? Didn't expect that."

"Auntie Gear's with Storm!? Let me say hi! Come on!" I'm instantly regretting the whole chat through the TV thing.

"Ram?" I could hear come from Storm.

"Fuckin' Hell…Did we all get on the same boat without knowing?" Johnny asked.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"G1, don't start shit with me!"

"I'll do what I want, bitch!"

"Enough!" Oh shit! Plutie came into Johnny's room as we started arguing. Bad things are going to happen…

"Someone, hold me…I'm scared…" The instant the words left my lips, Vert, the ever clingy one, had her arms around me. "Thanks."

"No problem." She replied, squeezing a little tighter.

"So, how'd she hear us?" Storm asked.

"I…May have my chat playing through the TV because my sister broke my mic…"

"It's nice to hear from you all." Neptune said.

"Hey, Neptune. How long have you and Gear been here?" Iffy asked.

"A few hours. Why?"

"Well, we've been here for about a week now." Noire answered.

"I see."

"Storm, Johnny, lend them some clothes and take them shopping. The sooner you get it done, the less it tears your soul to shreds."

"Hey! Stop being so over-dramatic! It wasn't that bad…" Blanc yelled. I promptly ignored her as the conversation continued.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Sounds like a great time." Johnny chirped.

"You HAVE seen how much money Plutie has, haven't you?"

"Ye." Before I could say anything more, said sadist decided to speak up.

"Don't worry…I'll make sure he has plenty of…Fun…"

"I'm not scared of you."

"You should be." Storm commented.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gear. What's up?"

"Not much. Just trying to get my bearings."

"Are we talking metaphorical bearings, or the parts?" I asked.

"Some things don't change…" I could just tell that she was shaking her head.

"That's what I said!" Blanc agreed while laughing.

"As much as I enjoy all the catch up, I still have one question. What about our babies? They're still breastfeeding." Neptune said, concerned.

"I'm worried too, but we have to trust Histy and Bryce." Plutie answered.

"I'm just going to put this out there just to get it out of the way." Storm started. "We know the real life Bryce."

"There's a Bryce?" Iffy asked with hope in her voice.

"He's fifteen." Sorry Iffy, but as a version of your father, it is my indirect responsibility to crush your hopes and dreams involving a boyfriend.

"Oh…"

"So, you guys are gonna have a busy day today." I said to the other two males in the conversation.

"We are going to be busy, too." Vert said.

"We are? My mom said that she was going out with her friend and Ken doesn't have anything going on. So what are we doing?"

"I thought we agreed to go to the movies?" Noire asked.

"Oh yeah…Damn you, terrible memory. What are we going to see?"

"Suicide Squad…" Rom answered.

"Um…G1…? You know that movie isn't for kids…" Johnny stated.

"They looked through the available movies and voted on it. You act like I wanted to bring those two into it. Un-fucking-fortunately for me, they bought the tickets yesterday while I was in class."

"Sucks to suck, doesn't it, G1?"

"You're the master of sucking, so you'd know that first hand."

"Stevie, I will find you…"

"Come on…He started it…" I whined to the dominatrix.

"Oh…I'll deal with him first…" The sound of a whip cracking could be heard.

"Steven, our movie starts in a hour. Let's go." Noire said impatiently.

"Um…Too many people to car there."

"English, G1."

"No, Storm." According to Word, it's an okay sentence.

"Come on! With all of us, it'll take forever to get snacks!" Ram complained.

"Alright! Chill for fuck's sake!" I held the power button on the Xbox to make it hard shut down as the others bid us farewell. "Okay, so, can you please tell me how we're getting there, because you obviously have a plan."

"The fun way…" Vert said while smiling sinisterly. She even broke physics for a moment by having a dark aura around her. In a pillar of light, she was in HDD, along with the rest of the goddesses.

"Oh no…"

"What? Scared of heights?" Blanc asked with a smirk.

"As any mortal man would." A pair of arms and two fleshy orbs pressed into my back as silver hair tickled the edge of my vision.

"Don't worry. I don't plan on dropping you."

"Okay…Then how do we plan on not getting shot down or something? You don't exactly see flying people on a regular basis."

"We're going to land in the woods by the river and come out of Otsiningo Park. From there, we'll walk the rest of the way." Iffy answered.

"That explains how early we're leaving. But how will we-"

"Camouflage spell…" Rom said, interrupting me.

"Fine. Fine!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in defeat as I walked downstairs. "Mom, we're leaving! Have fun with Carmen!" I slammed the door shut in my frustration. Their magic camo bull was already in place, so I had no idea where they were until a gray gloved hand grabbed me and lifted me up into the air.

"Don't look down." Noire said into my ear.

"I never understood why people say that. It only makes me people do the opposite." I replied, staring at the ground. The panic set in almost immediately. And not the good, roller-coaster kind. "Oh god, please. Please don't drop me." In a display of acrobatics that I could probably never pull off in any other situation, I rolled in her arms and hugged her with my arms and legs as tightly as I could.

"Hey! Not so tight!" Noire wheezed. Five minutes of Hell for the two of us, and five minutes of comedy for the others later, we were back on solid ground. I was shaking, and they were trying to cheer me up.

"Stop being a pansy!" Except for Ram. Didn't I teach her respect?

"T-That's u-uncalled for…" I muttered.

"Can we please get going?" Rom asked.

"Sure. I can walk this off." I stood up just to find out my legs don't work like they used to. "Fuck…Iffy, how do you do it?"

"I've been flying like that since before I can remember. It's just how I grew up."

"Come on." Noire said, wrapping one of my arms around her shoulders.

"Thanks." I said, flashing her a smile.

"Don't mention it."

"Can you two please stop having a moment? We have a movie to see." Blanc said. We both turned away and I coughed awkwardly. With that all said and done, we started walking/hobbling to the theater. I regained the ability to walk on my own by the time we reached the crosswalk to get across Front Street. Waiting for THAT light to change is enough time to listen two and a half average length songs off of ITunes. After the impatient waiting at the light, we made it to Regal Cinemas with a half hour to spare. Do you know how shitty it feels to go up to a register to order snacks with a bunch of girls, most that are roughly your age, and you're the only one that doesn't pay? Super shitty. The tickets they got started at the end of the back row, and went inwards. I was on the end, and was the designated food runner. Next to me was Noire, then Iffy, Vert, Rom, Blanc, and finally Ram.

"So, uh, how did we come to this set up?" I asked them.

"Noire's the only one of us besides you who likes butter on their popcorn. And since we paid, it's only fair that you're the one to go get refills." Blanc answered.

"Why are you even asking? Do you not want to sit next to me?"

"That's not it. It's just, if I remember correctly, you weren't as attached to your me as they others are."

"He's not wrong. You acted as best friends at best." Iffy commented.

"…Look, just be happy I'm here." She said, placing a hand on one of mine. I just turned my head towards her before tilting my head to the left. "I lost you to these two back home. If I couldn't have you there, then I'll just be with you here."

"That's bold…" Rom stated.

"O-Oh…This is new…I don't know how to deal with this…"

"It might just be easiest for you to just go along with it." Vert said with a smile, almost like she was plotting something.

"Eh, fuck it. Why not?" I slipped the hand out from under hers and pulled Noire closer. "Might as well seize this opportunity." This'll probably never happen again, so if I don't, I'll probably regret it. She flushed red as the lights dimmed for the previews. The movie lasted for about two hours, and by the time it was over, the twins were in a bad way.

"We shouldn't have taken them to that movie." Blanc said as we were walking out, holding the shaking duo.

"That's what I told you earlier, but you didn't believe me." I quipped.

"Ah, shut up…"

"Let's leave the 'I told you sos' for once we get home." Vert suggested as we left the building.

"Can we not fly, though? I don't want to throw up popcorn."

"I don't think we'd be able to fly, anyway. These two aren't looking too good." Blanc said, mildly angry.

"No need to get snippy with me, Blanc."

"Looks like we're walking, then." Iffy said as we started to head home. Because it would take about an hour and a half to walk from the theater, we had to carry the twins after a while. Those two are heavier than they look. We walked into the house, and Ken turned to us from his place on the couch.

"Hey. How was it?"

"For me? Just as good as the first time. For the kids? The opposite."

"Just keep rubbing it in…" Blanc growled.

"Okay, okay…I'll stop…So, mom left?"

"Yeah. She said she'd be a while." My step dad answered.

"Alright. Well, I'll be upstairs if you need me." I went up to my room, with Noire following close behind. So, with a situation like this presenting itself, there was only one thing to do. I turned around and raised an eyebrow to her.

"What?" The black haired girl asked.

"How come you're acting this way today? It's not like you to just suddenly do something like this. Let's be honest here, you may not act like it but you're still a bit tsun."

"I thought I already told you." She answered, irritated. A moment passed before she sighed. "Look…I get that I'm not acting like I normally do, and that this is new to you. You just have to understand that I've been down this road before, and I didn't like the fork that I ended up going down."

"Wait, what?"

"Are you really this forgetful, let alone dense?"

"Forgetful? More or less. Dense. Maybe, but probably not. Surprised and confused because of a situation that I never thought would happen due to my shitty personality and low self-esteem? Absolutely." Apparently, talking so lowly of myself is all it takes for Noire to become a huge softly, because her arms are now around me and pushed me into the room. She even went as far as mostly closing the door with her foot.

"…Don't talk like that…" Wow. There is no tsun happening right now. "You mean so much to us."

"No. The other me means so much to you."

"Steven…" Oh no…You aren't using those puppy dog eyes on me…"Let's lay down and take a nap. Okay?" Does she really pity me that much? That'll she'll put on an act this elaborate. God I sound emo.

"Sure." With a said smile, she let go of me and laid down on the bed on her side with an arm outstretched. Joining her, I quickly found my head pressed into her chest and I could feel her warm breath on my scalp.

"It doesn't matter. You're you. The guy that stole my first kiss. The guy I fell for. Think of this as me asking you out."

"Noire…"

"Ah bap bap! I'm serious. No pity, nothing. Vert had gone all week while you weren't home trying to convince me to do this. At first, I thought the same way you do, but she has a way with words." This is happening. Holy fuck…How do I do? Movies lie all the time, so I can't trust them. Straight out acceptance has never been my thing, so I shouldn't just go with it. "I can see you're worrying about this. We'll take things slow, so you don't have to freak out."

"Wait just a second…Fuck yes!"

"Whoa! Don't yell. I'm right here. What are you going on about?"

"My mom'll finally get off my back about getting a girlfriend." I cheered quietly, my voice muffled by the fleshy mounds and cotton blouse.

"Glad I could help then." My eyes grew heavy as I enjoyed the warmth of my new girlfriend…That is the strangest thing I've ever thought. That's kind of sad. When I woke back up, the clock said it was four pm. The two of us had shifted so that our foreheads were touching. Noire had a gentle smile on her sleeping face.

"Well don't you two look comfortable."

"Hey, Vert. I heard that this was your doing."

"Yes it was. It was a struggle, but I did it. By the way, Tehg called. He said the two of you look cute."

"You showed us on video? That's cold."

"She only did that because he wouldn't believe us about it." Iffy said from the other half of the doorway.

"*Yawn*…" Fuck that's cute. One of her hands left my back and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Hey…"

"Hey."

"What time is it?"

"About four o'clock."

"So…Dinner?"

"In a bit. I'm too comfortable to get up."

"Hey, mom? Was he always like this?" Iffy asked, turning towards the green themed goddess.

"Yes, he was."

"I hope you know that you're paying, Noire."

"But isn't it a boyfriend's job to take his girlfriend out?"

"It is if they have money and aren't a college student."

"What am I going to do to you?"

"Pet me and bring me food?"

"In your dreams!"

"Sometimes. And when it does happen, you're wearing a maid outfit."

"…Really…? Well, I'm too awake now to full back asleep."

"Same. Thanks, Noire."

"How is this my fault?"

"You're the one that started yelling,"

"Whatever…Get out so I can change,"

"What's wrong with what you have on now?"

"My shirt is all wrinkled and I think I see a drool stain."

"Alright. Let me know when you're done." With great reluctance, I got up and was basically forced out of my own room. Again. When she came out, her loose fitting blue tank top had been replaced with a more form-fitting black t-shirt with white trim and a red tribal design at the chest. "Ready to go?"

"Yup. Where are you taking me?"

"Well, you've been talking about this 'Lupo's' place for the past few days, so I thought that we could go there."

"Oh, cool. Let's get going." As the two of us walked down the stairs, I can hear the others living it up because of us in my sister's room.

"Where are you two going?" Ken asked as we stepped into the living room.

"Out to dinner. We'll be back soon. We're just going to Lupo's. Don't tell my mom. I need to break this to her myself when I'm ready."

"Okay. Have fun you two." We hopped into the car and took the ten minute drive to the restaurant. The entire time we made small talk and joked a bit. Once we were out of the car, Noire gave it a once over.

"You always spoke so highly of this place, yet it doesn't seem like much."

"You can't judge a book by its cover. It may not look like much, but the food is great."

"It better be. This is MY money that's getting spent."

"Noire, I don't know why you're so worried. You have enough money to buy a mansion and a private jet."

"I just don't like reckless spending."

"How is buying food reckless?" I asked her as we walked up to the register. One of the people working behind the counter took off his glove and came over to take our order. I should really learn his name, since I see him every time I come here.

"Hey. What can I get ya?" He asked.

"Hey. Could we get two chicken spiedie combos?"

"Sure thing. For here or to go?"

"For here, please." He finished punching it in and Noire gave him the cash. He handed her the change and me the two cups.

"They have Coke products, Noire. What would you like?"

"A diet Coke is fine." I went to the fountain and filled our cups. Hers with diet and mine with regular. Once that was done, I set the drinks on the table that Noire picked, and waited for our meal.

"Two chicken spiedie combos?"

"Thanks." I said to the man as I picked up the tray. I set it down and divvied out our food. Noire unwrapped the sandwich and I raised my fists near my face in anticipation.

"Are you really that excited?" She said while pausing, staring me in the eyes as the sandwich was halfway to her mouth.

"Just shut up and stuff it in your mouth." She took a hesitant bite and her eyes widened a bit.

"Wow. This is good."

"I know, right? Probably better than anything your me ever made."

"Well…at first, yeah. But you got better eventually. And will you stop talking like that?" She asked, jabbing a finger at me while taking a bite out of one of her fries. "Just because you aren't physically the same, or a little depressing at times, doesn't mean you aren't the man I fell in love with all those years ago. You're actually just like how I first met you. So shy and unsure of yourself."

"You only realized that because Vert talked you into the idea."

"She isn't wrong, now that I think about it."

"Maybe, but still. And you don't have any room to talk, Miss Tsundere. You're just as bad." And like that, she started pouting. "Don't be like that." She wasn't letting up. "Fine…You win…I take it back."

"That's what I thought." I could hear Johnny yell "whipped" in the distance. We proceeded to eat in peace, talking and joking like we did in the car. We had somehow had made a sandwich and a medium fry apiece last us an hour. When the two of us got home, Ken was still in the same spot that we left him. He had changed games, though. Instead of playing World of Tanks, he was playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the twins were loving it, rooted to the couch with him.

"Welcome home…" Rom greeted.

"Yeah, welcome back! Have fun on your date?"

"I'd like to say we did. What about you?"

"I enjoyed myself."

"That's good to hear. IF went to get the rest of us subs from Subway, and the other two are upstairs on your Xbox. I think Vert started a new game on Dark Souls Three. Or, at least, that's what she said." Ken told us.

"Okay. Come on, Noire. I just kind of want to lay down."

"You just want to cuddle while watching Blanc get mad at that game." She concluded as we started up the stairs.

"Do you blame me, though? You have to admit that people like her raging is pretty funny."

"It is pretty funny, I will admit. I just don't like encouraging you harassing her."

"She can be pretty cute when she's angry."

"Should you really be saying that to your girlfriend?"

"You know what I mean, Noire."

"I know. I'm just thinking that it's about time that I got revenge for all the teasing I've dealt with over the years."

"Oh no…"

"Will you two shut the hell up!? I'm trying to focus!" Blanc yelled.

"Is she still fighting Gundyr, Vert?"

"Yes. She has been trying for the last thirty minutes." Blanc threw the controller at my face because I started laughing really hard. Man…I'm going to miss it when they're gone.

 **So, I feel like I explained it enough throughout the chapter, but I'll try to explain better here. Imagine, from Noire's perspective, that essentially the same man that you've have/had feelings for for fuck knows how long is right in front of you, and he ISN'T married to the leaders of two of your rival nations. Would you NOT jump on that opportunity? And before you say anything, it is very much stated throughout the games that she is, in fact, an opportunist.**


	3. Halloween SpecialSort of

Chapter 3: Halloween Special! Sort of…

 **So…This was supposed to come out on Halloween night, but because my mom was hurting too much, I had to hand out the candy. Bryce, sorry buddy, but you are very much wrong. Histoire and my story's Bryce were stuck at home watching over the babies. I do, however, plan on cameoing you and the others at some point, but I don't know how I'll go about it quite yet. There are some people in the chat that I just don't know well enough to guesstimate their responses to things. And now on to fangersarg-fang. Honestly, you don't know how much you made my night when I read your review when I got the email. Hopefully this one lives up to the last. With that said, on with the show!**

It's been longer than it should have been since the last time I wrote in this thing. Did I forget to mention that this is a journal? Oh…Damn. Well, now you know. Like I said, it's been a while. It's early on a Saturday morning. Specifically, it's the Saturday before Halloween. Oooh~Spoopy~…

"You're making it harder to cut your hair right when you're writing in that book." Noire scolded.

"Hehe…Sorry. My bad…It's just that, since everything started being weird, I thought that it would be a good idea to keep a note of everything." Noire stopped what she was doing and-"Hey!" I shouted. (Let it be on the record that everything from here on for this entry has been written at a later date.)

"You can have this back when I'm done. Vert, can you hang on to this?"

"Absolutely." She responded, smiling as she took the artist's sketchbook from the black haired girl that I call my girlfriend.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we go get costumes after this!?" Ram begged excitedly.

"Come on, Ram…You should know that all the costumes will be sold out by now." Iffy said after sighing.

"Right! Right…"

"Can't Noire make us some, like usual?" Rom asked.

"I would, but I don't have the materials I usually have here." Noire responded. As she talked, I felt something sharp start to close down on my ear.

"Pay attention! I don't want to lose my ear!"

"I'm sorry!" She cried. "Are you okay!?"

"I'm good, now. Got scared for a second though. Thought I might have needed another trip to the ER this year."

"We take these three out every year. I don't want to break the tradition. It's fun seeing what Noire comes up with for everyone." Blanc said from the doorway that led from the kitchen to the dining room.

"Three? You still trick or treat, Iffy?"

"So what if I do? You did too."

"I did? What did I go as?"

"There was one year that you went as some guy named Danny Sexbang and made Bryce dress as his sidekick, Ninja Brian." Ram answered.

"Okay, that's awesome. What did Iffy go as?"

"No! Don't tell him!" The girl in question pleaded.

"Every year she dressed as a princess." Vert said with a sinister smile.

"Tiara and ball gown?"

"Tiara and ball gown." Blanc confirmed, nodding. Well, let's just say that things went downhill from there. Iffy became a tomato that was trying her best to hide in the darkest corner possible. Noire had to stop with her barber shop act for one reason and one reason alone.

"Oh, God…! It hurts to breath…!"

"I can't…I can't stop laughing!" Me and Ram were currently losing our collective shit while rolling around on the floor and coating ourselves in hair.

"Ram, why are you laughing? You've known this since you can remember." Noire asked.

"It's because she's an adult that dresses as something I would go as."

"Okay…But you." She continued, pointing at me. "Shouldn't laughing either."

"And why is that?"

"One year you went as a princess with her." Vert answered.

"Was I pretty princess?"

"You would've been if you wore the heels I made you instead of your combat boots."

"To be fair, it was probably to keep with these two." I retorted, pointing in the twins' general direction.

"Still. I had to custom make those heels…" The ravenette pouted.

"Stop being so overdramatic. Every year you go overboard to keep your cosplay habit in check." Blanc said.

"Why don't you just go to a couple of 'cons or something?" I asked.

"That's what everyone else asks all the time, and they never get it. How many followers would I lose if someone saw me there?"

"People would probably think it's someone cosplaying as you cosplaying…I think you were voted the fan favorite CPU."

"We already tried that argument." Iffy commented. "She's just going to bring up her eye color."

"They make colored contacts…" I deadpanned.

"Ugh…! Why don't you get it!?"

"I think you're over thinking things." My mom said from the dinner table. "Wouldn't people like it if you acted like a normal person when you actually had free time from doing your job?"

"Yes…But-"

"Noire, grandma has a point. No need to argue…" Rom said.

"Can you finish cutting my hair, please?" I asked while retaking my place on the stool from earlier. "I don't want to run around with my hair like this."

"Fine. I admit, it's not my best reasoning. I just don't want to embarrass myself in front of everyone."

"You'll be fine." My mom said before moving to the computer to finish paying some bills. Once Noire was finished I was dragged up to my room and cornered by the girl.

"What?"

"I already have idea for everyone else for their costumes, but I couldn't think of anything for you. Any suggestions?"

"I just planned on tagging along. I've kinda grown out of that, both mentally and physically." She looked at me with a 'bitch face' as soon as I finished talking.

"Stop that. Don't make me make Blanc hold you down so I can force you into something."

"I'd rather you not. You might be able to get away with dressing up in some elaborate costume, but not me."

"Vert and I are going to A.C. Moore to get a bunch of materials. It's either you come and give me an ideas, or we get you the girliest, most outlandish thing we can find."

"*sigh*…Fine. I'll get the keys…" Why can't I win against these girls? We took the fifteen minute ride to Vestal and parked in the lot in front of the arts and crafts store. Once we were in the store, those evil little gears that I call my thoughts started to turn. If I was going to do this, she's gonna pay. As I pushed the cart that was beginning to fill with various materials, I bidded mt time while keeping my inner machinations to myself. Can't let anyone know quite yet. Timing is key, after all.

"Are you plotting something?" Vert asked me as Noire wandered off.

"No…" I said, trying to sound innocent while still maintaining my grump attitude. I turned to see her giving me a light glare. "…Yes…"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, you know how she doesn't like not completing a project, right?"

"Indeed. You plan on having her to make a very labor intensive outfit, don't you?"

"Ye."

"Do you need me to get anything?"

"It depends. How quickly can you get to Gear and back?"

"In about an hour or two. Why?"

"Knowing her, she has a bunch of scrap metal lying around. I'd appreciate it if you'd go get a bunch of it."

"Oh, I like where this is going."

"That's the last of it. Did you figure something out?" Noire asked, placing several more sheets of fabric into the cart.

"Yes, actually. I did. We have a plan for it, too. There's no need any more fabric, though. Vert will be taking a trip to Jersey, though."

"What for?"

"Oh…You know…Things…"

"I don't like the fact that you're plotting something."

"And yet you'll go along with it, just like you always have." Vert commented.

"Great. Now I'm being doubled teamed." As the words left her lips, she froze like a deer caught in headlights. "You. Say. Nothing."

"Fine…Ruin my fun…But don't pretend that you don't like the sound of it…" I muttered.

"I thought I told you not to say anything!?"

"To think that she is such a killjoy. What do you see in her, anyway?" Vert questioned.

"An adorkable nerd that hides behind a strict attitude."

"I'm not a nerd!"

"Let's just go pay." I said, shaking my head with a smile. With a hundred dollars or two spent, me and Noire drove home while Vert covertly took off to Gear's, Neptune's, and Storm's place.

"So, what do you plan to go as?"

"I'll show you a picture once Vert gets back. I don't want to ruin the surprise." Once we got home, Noire took everything we had bought, and my mom's sowing kit downstairs while I went up to farm Drakeblood knights in Dark Souls 3. I learned in the two hours that it took for Vert to get back that Iffy is a much better player than I.

"Where's Noire?" Vert asked, sheets of metal in hand.

"Downstairs in the basement. She's converted it into a makeshift workshop. Come on, let's go give her a little hell."

"Let's." I ran upstairs, took the DS3 guidebook from Ram (don't judge me), who was acting as Iffy's book monkey, and then met up with Vert. "Oh, Noire~ We have something for you~" Vert sang out as she dropped the metal with an ungraceful clanking sound.

"Why do you have all that metal?" Neither of us verbally answered her. I just tossed her the book. "What the-No. No! Absolutely not!"

"You wanted to know what I wanted to go as. There you go."

"I'm not making you a suit of armor! No matter how much you plead, or rub my back."

"Come on, please."

"No!"

"Think about it like this, Noire. You'll have bragging rights compared to anyone else that makes cosplays." Vert suggested.

"I'm listening…" My girlfriend said after a long pause.

"People will flock to you. They'll come from far and wide to see the goddess that can work metal into a real suit of armor."

"You're right! Now get out so I can work!" As we went up the stairs, I was greeted by Iffy leaning against the fridge.

"How'd playing Noire go?" She asked.

"It went wonderfully." The girl's mother answered. "She got every note right."

"Ah, bad music jokes…You make me miss being in band with Smales."

"So we've heard." Blanc said as we made our way back to my room. "You sang nothing but high praises for the man."

"Please tell me I didn't get them into drums." I said, looking at the duo who had taken over the farming that I had left Iffy to do.

"You got them, and us, into steel drum. Does that count?" Iffy asked.

"No. No it doesn't. Any other instruments? I'm curious."

"Rom plays the flute, Ram followed in her old man's footsteps, and Iffy took up the guitar." Taking the que from her mother, Ram turned and waved to me.

"Touch my baby, and I'll punt you over a fence."

"I've got my own! Why would I want yours?"

"Have you seen mine?"

"…No…" I reached over my bed and grabbed the case before opening it, revealing the black tenor sax with brass keys.

"It's so pretty…" Rom said with stars in her eyes.

"Up at Clarkson, the pep band dubbed it 'Sexy' and gave me the Tender Sex award. Because puns are fun."

"Seriously?" Vert asked.

"Look at the award. It's hanging on the fridge."

"…That makes so much more sense now…" Blanc muttered. For your information, the award had a picture of a man in suspenders with no shirt, laying down directly behind a saxophone.

"So, is Noire going to come up tonight?" I asked.

"Probably not, all things considered. She'll go for days with no sleep when given a challenge like the one you gave her. You might just be better off forgetting about her except for meal time." Iffy advised me.

'You're probably right. Um…I'm getting bored of this farming. Wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure. Any suggestions?" Blanc asked.

"Can we not watch a comedy?" Rom asked politely.

"Of course. I have an idea good idea, too. Best part is, it's kid friendly."

"Oh? What is it?" Asked the other twin.

"It's called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"What's that about?" Blanc asked.

"It's about a boy who goes to a school that teaches the students magic. The series consists of seven books and eight movies."

"Sounds good. Put it on." Vert demanded. And so I did. The night ended like every movie night, with us all crammed into my bed. Sunday was uneventful, except for everyone's initial confusing when Noire had started to forge my armor. That, and Vert went down and secretly took pictures of the girl as she worked. Turns out, a sweaty Noire wearing shorts and one of my tank tops is very much attractive. It wasn't until my aunt dropped me off after classes were done at four that I saw Noire outside of the basement again.

"Hey, Noire. How are you?" She shot me a glare before pointing into the living room.

"It's done. You owe me."

"I figured. So, what'll it be?"

"Well, I'm sore from all that work. I could really use a massage."

"I'm fine with that. I thought it would be something completely unreasonable." The two of us went up to my room, and I shooed thee twins out. As I walked in, Noire shut the door before she began to strip. "Whoa! What the hell are you doing!?'

"I can't get a massage with my clothes on. I even had Blanc go get some oils for you to use."

"I thought you meant a back rub!"

"Nope." She said, popping the P. "Full massage."

"This absolutely payback, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"Alright…Get comfy, and I'll see what I can manage to do." I turned my back to give her some privacy as she finished undressing. I didn't turn back until I heard my bed creak. "Is there anywhere besides the obvious spots that you don't want me touching?"

"J-Just not my butt, okay? I've seen videos, and I don't think I'd be okay with that."

"Phew…Okay…Kinda glad you said that. I don't think I would've been able to do that, anyway. Let's get to work." That last part I said to myself as I began to run my fingers along her back. I traced the muscles to try and find where the knots where. Once I found one, I worked it out before moving on to the next. Once her back was done, I moved on to the next area. Once I was done, she wrapped herself up in my comforter before sitting up and leaning against me.

"Thanks…Do you mind if I just kind of stay like this for a while. You're warm."

"I don't, but I also don't want to be labeled as a pervert, so I'm going to have to ask you at least put your underwear back on. Plus, we have to get ready soon. It's Halloween, after all."

"What time does everything start?"

"Five."

"It's four thirty."

"I know. I'll attempt to get dressed." I hurried down to get the armor before taking it back upstairs. When I came back down, Iffy was the first person I saw. Her princess outfit was a sleek pink dress with gold accents and matching jewelry. Vert, being Vert, was in one of those sexy cop outfits. Blanc was a witch. Rom and Ram were the tenth and ninth Doctor's respectively, and Noire was a maid. That made me pause for a moment.

"A maid?"

"It's one of the few things I haven't gone as yet." She said, defending herself.

"How are we going about this? You know the area better than we do." Blanc asked.

"We only went up and down this street when we went out, but usually we got a ton of candy anyway. We'll start by heading down this side of the street to my grandparents' house. Then, we'll cross the street, go all the way up, then loop back. Sound good?"

"Yeah! Let's go get some candy!" Ram cheered.

"Yay! Candy!" Rom said, following her sister's lead. The two ran out the door, bags in hand.

"We should get going, before they get too far." Iffy suggested.

"Could you guys do that? I'll catch up, but this armor is taking some getting used to." I'll stay behind to lend you a hand. Also, your mother asked me to take pictures." Vert said while looking down at the camera hanging from her neck.

"Thanks." The others took off to give chase to the twins as Vert saved me multiple times from falling down. I'd give an exact number, but it's too embarrassing. We only managed to catch up to them when they had made it down to my grandparents'. When I saw my grandfather handing candy to the three, I lifted the faceguard and waved.

"Hey, Grandpa!"

"Oh, hey there. How are you?"

"Not too bad."

"About time you caught up." Blanc said with her arms crossed under her average sized bust. (See Welp, This is a Thing for details)

"You know these people?" My grandpa asked.

"Yeah…You could say that. Mind if we come in?"

"Sure. Come on in." He held the door open and I walked in, while the others followed hesitantly behind me.

"Hey, Grandma. Hey, Steph."

"Hello!" My grandma said happily.

"Hey. Where'd you get the armor?" My cousin asked.

"My friend here made it for me." I replied while resting a hand on Noire's now poofy shoulder.

"We talked about this. How many times do I have to tell you to stop introducing me as your friend, instead of as your girlfriend?"

"How long until you're done being mad at me about the armor?"

"It's about time you got yourself a nice girl. I do have to ask about her eye color, though. Are you wearing contacts?"

"No. It's a rare genetic mutation. It actually runs in my family."

"And what about her hair?" Steph asked, pointing at Blanc.

"I dye it. I think this looks better than my regular hair color."

"Doctor Who fans, huh? You two sure know how to pick 'em." My grandpa said, referring to the twins.

"Yeah…It's our dad's fault."

"He watched it all the time…"

"Well, don't let us keep you. Have fun."

"We will. See you later."

"They were nice." Vert commented as we left. The twins ran across the street to the next house.

"Yeah, they are." Us "adults" followed the kids around until eight, when the curfew kicked in.

"That was fun! I don't think I've ever gotten so much candy!"

"Yeah, I don't think we've ever gotten a haul like this."

"Make sure to check the candy before you eat it." My mom said from the living room as the three stared at the pile of goodies that had been formed on the table. Ken had gone to bed at this point.

"We will…Dad always had us do that in case a meanie decided to play a nasty trick on us." Rom replied.

"And don't eat too much. I don't need you three bouncing off the walls all night." Blanc said.

"I understand these two, but why are you saying that to me?" Iffy asked.

"Iffy, dear, do you remember that incident?" Vert asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She answered seriously.

"Coffee incident? What? What happened?"

"Well, your jackass of a friend decided that she hadn't made her coffee quite right." Noire started.

"Johnny?"

"Johnny."

"*sigh*…Go on…"

"He took her cup and dumped as much sugar as he could into it."

"This went down exactly how I'm picturing it, isn't it?" I asked, looking at the worried young adult.

"She didn't crash for three days…" Vert deadpanned.

"The fact that I didn't die from a heart attack is impressive." Iffy said in shock.

"We were just as surprised as you were." Blanc added. "So only eat a few pieces." The pink and blue duo instantly grabbed two handful's worth. "Hey! I said a few!"

"Hey, does somebody mind lending me a hand? This armor was a pain in the ass to get on in the first place, and I think it'll be even harder to get off."

"I'll lend you a hand. Noire deserves a break from our little prank."

"I'm still mad at you two about that."

"I gave you the massage, per your request. What more do you want?"

"Nothing I can say in front of your mother." …What?

"What?" My mouth moved before it got permission from my brain.

"…Noire, don't tease him like that near me…It makes me feel weird…" Iffy said, shivering while munching on a Snickers bar.

"Sorry. It's just…He's easier to tease than Plutia on her wedding day."

"I want to hear that story, but later. I just want to get out of this thing. It's getting real hot in this thing. Come on, Vert." I noisily clanked up the stairs with the cop in tow. Ten minutes later, I was free from the metal oven that is now in my closet. "Ah…That's better."

"Mind if I lay down?"

"You're gping to anyway, plus Noire doesn't seem to mind, given the fact that the three of us have shared this bed since you got here." Oh, how I was going to regret that. Noire's face was contorted in anger at the sight of her half naked boyfriend being cuddled by an equally naked more endowed woman. She "calmly" walked closer to us before punching me in the dick. "…Why…?"

"If anyone is going to cuddle with you like that, it's going to be me."

"I never knew you were so possessive."

"Vert, the last time I had something like this, I threw it away for stupid reasons. Not this time. Not again."

"I think…I think I'm just going to sleep this off…Good night…"

 **So. I did a thing. Don't ever expect two chapters in the same weekend for this story ever again. Chapter two didn't go up sooner because college is a pain in this ass. Stupid Calc based physics. Anyway, have a nice night.**


	4. Turkey Day!

Chapter 4: Turkey Day!

 **This is a thing. I don't quite know if this will come out Thanksgiving Day or on Black Friday, but I just finished handwriting this today, turkey day. I wanted this story to be more than a collection of holiday chapters, but with my workload from classes I just don't have the time to make chapters as often as I'd like. Thankfully I have a long Christmas break to write as much as I like. Now, to address reviews.**

 **Johnny: I know that would be something you'd do, that's why I wrote it.**

 **Fang: I wouldn't say that the princess thing is a punishment. It's more like a head-canon of mine that someone that tomboyish couldn't NOT have a guilty pleasure like that. As for the armor, it's not Havel's. It's the Firelink armor set from the cover of the game itself.**

 **With that all said and done, it's time for the show!**

Another couple of weeks have passed, making it a grand total of two months or so since the girls got magicked into this reality. Since then, I've had three exams (Ugh…) and we got a new fridge, seeing as how the old one decided to kick the bucket. We had to hunt down a big ass turkey because of how many people we were going to have over for Thanksgiving. Vert, at one point, tried to cook something to prove that she could help with the mighty feast, only to be banned from cooking in the house. I witnessed firsthand that, apparently, milk can spontaneously combust when being poured from the carton to a mixing bowl. To my mother's relief, Noire AND Blanc know how to cook, so she'll be alright given that her back is all messed up right now. She herniated a disk in her back. Today was is the first full day of my break. My school week consisted of one class on Tuesday because my Monday classes got cancelled due to snow and for some reason my Tuesday lab got cancelled. My sister got home Friday afternoon. She takes being with the twin's pretty well, except when they decided to prank her. Her getting pranked may or may not have been my doing. By the end of THAT day, all three were caked in mud and my sister was fuming. Iffy had been sneaking out on a regular basis, and it wasn't until last week did I find out where to. She had been going to BHS to play steel pan. Some days she even brought the twins along. Around the time that I actually got around to writing this down, we had a chat created talking about Bryce's story "What If…?". Here is but a small section of one of the conversations we had. (Since it's over Skype, this will be written in instant messaging format.)

Bryce: Pairings have been figured out. Tehg-Blanc. Garland-Compa. Uni-Nepgear. It works.

Me: Yes. The solution to our little situation was lesbianism.

Bryce: HOW COULD IT HAVE ESCAPED MY MIND!?

Me: That still leaves poor old Lonely Heart

Bryce:…Oh yeah…Adult Nep?

Me: I don't know if that would work…

Bryce:…You're probably right…self-cest?

Me: There's still an extra Blanc kicking about

Bryce: True, and an extra Vert…and an extra Noire…SELF-CEST!

Me: No, Bryce. We're authors. We have to be more creative than that. We could pair the Extra Vert with IF. Sure would make her happy

Bryce:…Chika doh…

Me: Who cares?

Bryce:…Touché

"Steven!" My mom yelled mid conversation from downstairs. "Come put the dogs out!"

"Alright! Be down in a sec!" I made my way down the stairs quickly and opened the back door, letting the two dogs out into the backyard.

"Hey, Steven." Noire greeted while hugging me from behind. "Can we go do something today?"

"Sorry, but I can't. Today's the day I have to pay my dues to Vert for that poker game." We had a poker game the weekend the before. Instead of money or chips, we bet favors. Turns out, Vert is really good and I am very bad. I won ONCE against Rom. Can't ask much of someone her age.

"I forgot that was today. What is she going to have you do?"

"No idea. That's why I'm scared."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on making you do anything extreme, and I won't do anything that will affect your relationship." Vert said, leaning against the new fridge. She was clad in dark blue skinny jeans and a tight green t-shirt. It would be blush inducing if it wasn't for the fact that she wore something similar EVERY DAY. Noire was in her winter pajamas, which consisted of a black tank top and gray sweats.

"Thank you, Vert. I appreciate it." Noire said while nodding her head to the blonde.

"We'll start by getting to the mall at ten. According to the website, that's when everything is open. I'll tell you the rest as we go."

"Oh…this is going to be a nightmare…" I muttered.

"I won't work you too hard. I promise."

"Just stop complaining and go with her. She won't let go of it until you do. That's just how she is." Blanc said, entering the room from the dining room. She was still her pajamas as well and had dirty breakfast dishes in her hands.

"I figured that much…I'll go het real pants on…" I quickly made my way up the stairs and pulled on a pair of jeans, not bothering to change out of the shirt I had pulled on before I went downstairs in the first place. "Ready when you are. Mom, mind if we take your car?"

"Whatever. Just make sure to bring it back in one piece."

"Okay. We'll be back whenever Vert says it's okay." I grabbed the keys and the two of us headed over the mall. "So…What are we here for?"

"I wanted to get something a bit more memorable and permanent for when we have to go home. A special something for each of us. That and some other things. Can't go to the mall with shopping for some clothes."

"God dammit…Is this going to take forever?"

"It depends. What's your opinion on picking out jewelry?"

"It's not nearly as bad as clothes shopping, that's for damn sure." I ate those words in the first hour. We spent a total of three getting stuff for all of them. There were a couple of fancy rings, some necklaces, and more earrings than I'd care to count. At one point she had sent me away for some soft pretzels to munch on around eleven o'clock. After that, we spent another hour looking through various stores looking for a dress, of all things. It wasn't even in her size, which was the weirdest part of all. It was a silver color with a black lace design running diagonally down from the single covered shoulder until the waist, where it then covered the entire knee length skirt. By the time THAT was done, it was 2 o'clock.

"It's late enough, now. How about lunch? Any suggestions?"

"Sure. There's a place right by here that's pretty good. You probably saw the sign as we drove by. As a hint, it was the white building with a red roof."

"That Friendly's place across the street? What does it have?"

"It's like a diner, but has other stuff too."

"Oh, if that's the case, I don't see why we shouldn't go there." With bags in tow, we hopped into the car and drove to the restaurant. Once we sat down at a booth and ordered our drinks, we opened our menus and browsed for a minute.

"See anything you like, Vert?"

"This crispy chicken salad looks good. What about you?"

"I'm trying to decide between the bacon cheeseburger and the buffalo chicken wrap."

"That has celery in it, though."

"I can just ask for no celery." I flipped back to the front and laid the menu out on the table. "How about an appetizer? I know how you can get about maintaining your figure, but…"

"Are those loaded waffle fries?" She asked with a bit of drool hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Did not see that coming, but I guess everyone has that one food. Kind of thought it would be Doritos or some other gamer junk.

"They sure are. Would you like me to put in an order for them?" Our waiter asked, just coming back with her lemonade and my coke.

"Yes, please." Vert answered with a smile, not realizing the drool still on her face.

"Okay. Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'm good, Vert. Also, you got a bit of something on your face." I said, rubbing a wrist against the left corner of my face.

"Oh…Um…I'm ready as well." She replied while wiping away the mess. "I'll have the crispy chicken salad." Our waitress wrote down the order before turning to me.

"And for you?"

"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger with no mayo, please."

"Of course. I'll be back as soon as your appetizer is ready."

"So, what's next after this?"

"Whatever you want to do. What I wanted for our bet was for you to go shopping with me. You ARE the only one of us who can drive."

"Oh…Thanks…Um…Well, anywhere I want to go involves going back to the mall, so that's kind of pointless. How about we go…" I stopped to think, trying to come up with something we didn't do regularly.

"We could go to that spa your mother talks about."

"No…We'd need to book an appointment ahead of time."

"And we see enough movies…"

"We could just go home. I don't mind. I'm just the chauffeur."

"If you say so." Vert said, sounding a tad bit upset. About five minutes later, the fries came and a contest of sorts began. It didn't start as a contest, actually. I was just trying to get some because Vert was snatching up as many as she could. So, when I sped up to eat some of our shared appetizer, she sped up. And then there was none. There was a mother with her small child staring us down. "Oh my…"

"We, uh…did a thing…"

"Please don't tell the others. I even hid this from Blanc over all these years. I can't have her know that I eat like this."

"Must've been hard hiding such unladylike behavior from the world, huh?"

"Speaking of the others, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"When we get back to the house, there's something that I bought today that I want you to give to Noire. You have to tell her it's from you as well."

"…Why…?"

"I've come this far as your wing-woman. It wouldn't do to stop now."

"You've been reading my Skype chat with Tehg."

"Yes I have. You two have some pretty interesting conversations. And might I say, you've done a fine job with your little project with him, all things considered."

"Thank you." I said to both the green themed goddess and the waitress as she set our meals down. She picked up the empty plate and left. "So, what is it that I'm giving her?"

"That's a surprise."

"You're a troll, you know that?"

"I have been called that quite a bit over the years, yes."

"We should eat, before our food gets cold."

"That sounds like a good idea." We enjoyed our meal, making small talk in between bites and occasionally teasing her about the milk incident. Vert paid the bill and we left with an ice cream cone apiece. "We have to come here more often."

"Yeah. I'd like to come here more than I do, but I don't really get the chance."

"Now you have a date idea."

"That I do. If only I could actually pay for it." I pulled into the driveway and popped the trunk as the two of us got out. "So which box is the one you want me to give her?" Vert reached into one of the bags and pulled out a simple black ring box.

"This should make her day. She's been pretty upset since Abby died."

"Poor Devil. He never gets the chance to just sleep. Alright. Let's do this…" When we came in, almost everyone was watching a movie that Ken had put on using Netflix.

"You have fun?" Ken asked.

"As much fun as a pack mule can at the mall."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Blanc said.

"We spent three hours shopping for jewelry…"

"Oh…poor bastard…I know how mom can get with that kind of stuff." Iffy said from the dining room. She was reading my copy of Hamlet.

"Hamlet? Didn't think you were into Shakespeare."

"That would be my fault. I read it a week or so ago and thought she would like it." Vert replied for her.

"It's not even that good."

"That's what I said." Blanc said. "I told you that she wouldn't like a tragedy, but you insisted."

"Don't start a fight, mom. I'm trying to watch the movie." Rom, of all people, GROWLED. Guess she really likes this movie.

"Welp…I've had enough weird for today already." I set the bags on the table and fingered the small box that resided in my pocket. "Where's Noire?"

"She's up in your room playing a game on your Xbox." My mom answered.

"Okay, thanks." I not so calmly walked up the stairs, anxious about "my" gift to her. I turn into the room to see Noire playing [Prototype] on my 360. "Hey, Noire. [Prototype], huh?"

"Yeah…I got thinking about somethings and decided to play something mindless."

"Thinking about what?"

"Just about how the two of us will cope once we have to go home."

"Oh…Well, I think I have something that'll take your mind off it besides by playing as a man eating viral monstrosity." I fished the box out and prayed that it wasn't something freaky. This was a mysterious nineteenth box. Vert must've gotten it when she sent me to get pretzels. Noire opened the box and, if physics and biology would allow it, her jaw hit the floor.

"This is…It's beautiful…Where and how did you get this?"

"I…had a hand…"

"Vert put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Yeah…" Man, was I that obvious?

"Thank you. I love it." She put the ring on and I finally got to see what Vert's machination was. On Noire's right ring finger was a gold band with two connected hearts made of the same material. Inside of the hearts were two gems of similar shape. One was a ruby and the other a black diamond. Both were cut with a starburst design.

"Wow…She really picked out a beauty…It really suits you…"

"Of course it does. You gave it to me." She kissed me on the lips before going back to staring at it. "And I'll never take it off."

"Hehehe…" I chuckled, awkwardly rubbing the back of my head.

"Move over so I can turn this off. It would be dumb to try and cuddle with this music playing in the background." I stepped a bit to the right and she powered off the console before crawling into bed. As soon as I joined her, she had her arms around me. "Any plans for tomorrow?"

"If it snows like it's supposed to, yeah. Promised Blanc and the twins that we could go sledding at Coolidge."

"That sounds fun. Mind if I come along?"

"Of course. I actually planned on asking you, but you beat me to it." The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, so I'll wrap up this entry here.

Hey, uh…Noire here…It's November twenty fourth…Steven thought it would be a good idea if we wrote in this thing occasionally. I really don't get why, but I thought that I'd start things off. He only person I trust to write in this properly is IF. Blanc would just put down angry ranting, the twins would doodle, and even thinking about what Vert MIGHT write scares me. I got up before Steven, because if you don't he'll spend all morning in the shower. As reluctant as I am to get up at seven in the morning, it had to be done. Because his sister Megan was home, Blanc and IF had to stay in our room. The past six mornings have been difficult with all of us cramming into this one bed. I untangled myself from the mass of people. Normally, Vert and I are the last two to shower because of our hair, but I want to be awake and ready for today. We were going to go sledding as soon as everyone was up and I handle the mornings just as well as Steven does. I figured I'd take as quick a shower as possible and do everybody a favor. After a five minute shower and ten minutes of trying to completely dry my hair, I went down and started making pancakes. The smell should at least wake Rom and Ram. Once the first batch was done, two sets of footsteps made their way down the stairs.

"Good morning, you two."

"Good morning, Noire." Rom said with a smile as the two walked into the kitchen.

"When will breakfast be ready?" Ram asked impatiently.

"You can only eat once Steven and your mother wakes up."

"Fine…" She pouted, storming off into the dining room to watch Deb play a game on Facebook. I wish she was more patient like her sister.

"Rom, could you please go wake you mother and Steven? If you let him, he'll sleep until noon and the food will be cold."

"Okay." She said with a suspicious smile on her face. What have I done…? From our room I could hear a thud, some cries of pain, the bed creak, and Steven groaning.

"Why…?" I still don't know how I could hear him from all the way up there.

"Looks like I have to make more. Sorry, Deborah."

"It's okay. I have a while before I need to baste the turkey."

"Alright." Heavy, tired footsteps made their way down the stairs. Steven was holding his stomach. "What did Rom do?"

"She jumped up and knee dropped me."

"Sorry. I asked her to wake you and Blanc. I didn't think she'd do something like that. That's something only Ram would do."

"Hey!" Said child protested at my jab.

"Somedays I wonder why I had kids…" Blanc muttered, meandering towards the coffee machine we bought a couple weeks ago. "Getting flipped off my bed isn't how I planned on waking up today."

"You weren't the one to get punched in the face." IF said, reaching down into the freezer for an ice pack.

"Sorry Iffy…" Steven apologized.

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean to."

"Wait a moment, Noire. Didn't you promise to help with dinner tonight?"

"Yes I did, Vert, but I was told that everything I'll be helping with isn't until later on."

"Oh, okay. Pancakes, huh?"

"Yeah. It was something quick that would feed all of us."

"You're tagging along?" Blanc asked.

"Yes, I am. I asked Steven last night and he said it was okay. His mom also asked me to take pictures."

"Fine…Just…this is for the twins, so try not to hog him."

"I'm right here. Can you please not talk like I'm not?" I turned away from him and back to the other girls in the room.

"Why does my boyfriend have to be so melodramatic?"

"I'm a Leo. It's how I do." He quipped without missing a beat.

"Whatever you say. Now come on and eat. I've made enough for you four. IF, Vert and I's breakfast will be ready here in a minute." He grabbed the plates I had already made and carried them to the table. I had to have his mom watch over the syrup because I saw Ram trying to drink it.

"So, you're taking pictures, huh? Make sure to get some awesome actions shots of me!" Ram said as I sat down.

"I'll try. No promises."

"Hurry up and eat, you two. The sooner we're done and dressed, the sooner we can leave." Blanc said to the twins. They proceeded to scarf down the food in front of them in a way I haven't seen from them before. As seen as they were done, they were bolting up to get changed.

"I've never seen them move so quickly…" Steven muttered.

"You'd be surprised by what they can do when given the proper motivation." Vert commented. "Some of the pranks they've pulled on people who insulted them were quite elaborate."

"…Good to know…Well, while they're getting changed, let's getting ready to go. I'll go grab the sled." He got up and went down to the basement, presumably where the sled was normally kept. Blanc and I want to get our winter clothes on. For me, I had a red plaid scarf, a black coat that went down to my knees, boots that came up to the middle of my shin of the same color, and a dark blue hat that was the same color of my jeans. Blanc had managed to find a hat similar to her old one, but with white instead of red, a white puffy jacket lined with brown fur, and matching boots. The sled Steven came back with was made of black plastic and made for three people.

"That's a big sled." IF said as we all stared at it.

"Yup. With just one person you can catch a bit of air if you've got a good enough mound at the bottom of the hill."

"Sweet!" Ram cheered as she leapt down the stairs.

"Sounds fun!" Rom said quietly, yet still as excited as her sister. The two had on outfits almost exactly like what they normally wore on a quest back home. How they did that, I don't know. "Can we go now?"

"Sure. We'll be back, mom!" Steven ran out the door with the children in tow.

"Blanc, please make sure to keep those three from getting hit by a car. I need to get the camera and Steven forgot his coat."

"Sure. Hey! Wait up!" She yelled, running out the door after them. I put the camera around my neck and picked up the heavy leather coat before making my way to the school. Once I got there, he was standing there, shivering.

"I forgot my coat…"

"I've got it right here. Man, this thing is heavy." I handed him the coat and he put it on as quickly as he could. We spent an hour or so sledding. Most of the time, it was either him or Blanc going down with the twins, but occasionally we mixed it up. I went down with them a few times, but mainly with Blanc of all people. We learned that Ram takes really good pictures when the three of us adults went down together. Nothing noteworthy happened after that. We had a big dinner at four. The turkey was twenty nine pounds. With it we had a large amount of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, a bit of squash, and baking powder biscuits. For desert we had apple, cherry and pumpkin pie.

"Ugh…I'm full…" Rom moaned.

"Same…I had too much pie." Steven said, agreeing with her while leaning against my shoulder.

"Well that's what you get. You even said you were full." I said while rubbing his back with my right hand.

"In his defense, the pie was excellent." Vert said from the other side of the bed. By the time everyone was done and had gone home it was seven, and we were tired from the turkey.

"That it was. That. It. Was." Blanc said, patting her stomach.

"Hey, Blanc? Wanna play Dark Souls?" Steven asked.

"Fuck off!"

"You're still sore about that? Relax, it's just a game." IF stated.

"Yes I am, actually!"

"It's okay." Vert said, wrapping her arms around the smallest of us CPUs. "It's just a game. It's not for everyone." The small girl visibly calmed down.

"…Okay…" She said after taking a deep breath. "I'll let it go…for now…" We all just kind of lazed about for the night, so I'll just end this here.

 **So, I decided that I wanted to try something new. The thought went through my head one night that the others would probably want to write in the journal too, so that's what I tried as an experiment. If it isn't as good as I think it is, let me know and I won't do it again. That's all, folks!**


	5. The Start of a New Beginning

Chapter 5: The Start of a New Beginning (Holiday Stuff)

 **So, procrastination wins the day once more. I planned for this to be a Christmas chapter, but because of me not writing and doing things around the house, I pushed it up so it would encompass the New Year too. My bad. I'm trying my damndest to not make this story a collection of holiday chapters. Hopefully, the next four weeks that I have off will bear fruit. Now the apology's over, on with the show.**

Hello, everyone. This is Vert. I swiped Stevie's book from Noire when she wasn't looking because I'm bored. He doesn't have much of a variety of games for his consoles, and his PC doesn't have the specs to run games how I'd like it to. With Iffy, Rom and Ram gone all the time and Blanc and Noire doing things around the house, it gets awful lonely. Well, since no one's paying attention, I think now would be a good time to get down my plans for Christmas. I know it's not very far away, so I really need to get the ball rolling. I already have gotten the costumes and several boxes of mistletoe. Hehehe…It's going to be entertaining watching him get all flustered. I had other plans for this holiday, but all of those movies on TV that Deborah has been watching took the wind out of my sails. They're still in play, though. Maybe Valentine's Day. All of that aside, I need to go get everyone gifts. I do this every year…Maybe I'll get Stevie and Noire a book of baby names. They thought they'd gotten away with doing it in the shower, but I heard them. Noire's not exactly quiet. The twins are going to get a few books from apiece from a series called "Goosebumps". Stevie said he read it as a kid, so I thought it'd be nice to have something that he could read to them. They may not say it, but they miss story time with their dad. I'm getting Iffy a new handheld because she broke the one from back home, which is similar to a 3DS here. I got a few games for the console that Stevie's getting that we all could enjoy. There are a few cosplay sets I found on eBay that would just be perfect on Noire and a fancy quill set for Blanc. She loves her quills and ink for some reason, even though she does NOT have the handwriting for it. Noire does, though, but she can't stand using them.

"Now, how am I going to do this? I can't exactly fly to the mall, or drive there, and I don't have a good excuse to get Stevie to take me…"

"What are you planning?" Blanc asked, entering the living room.

"Nothing, dear." I answered, smiling while trying to look as innocent as possible.

"I don't like the sound of that. You only say things like that when you're plotting something."

"It's nothing you need to worry about." We sat in silence for a minute. "Hey, Blanc?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time the two of us went and did something?"

"Not since that time we went to the casino with Neptune and Plutia before they had kids."

"Why don't we go somewhere, then?"

"Ah, why not? Noire can handle making Christmas cookies."

"Anywhere you have in mind?" I asked.

"Why don't we just fly around and see what happens?" What happened after…I don't want to talk about…Let's just say that we're not allowed back to Disney in Florida and the CIA is not happy.

This is IF. Since Steven is busy with school, he asked all of us to just write down what we did on a given day. So, I thought it would be a good idea to write about the very first time I met my Dad's self-proclaimed greatest role model. It was a couple of weeks after we first got here. I got bored and decided to head to the high school downtown. I don't know how Steven walks so far regularly. A couple of miles is a couple of miles. It took an hour to get down there by foot.

"I…didn't ask how to get to his room…" After letting out a sigh, I pulled out one of my phones and called Steven.

"Hey, Steven?"

"Hey, what's up?"

"How do you get to your band teacher's room?"

"Which entrance are you going to go in?"

"The one on Oak Street, like you said."

"Okay, so after you sign in at the desk, take a right. At the end of that ramp, take another right. On your right, after the girl's bathroom, will be a staircase. Go up to the second floor and exit the stairwell. Take two lefts and go down the hallway. At the end will be a room with a mural being painted on it. You can't miss it."

"Okay, thanks. I didn't interrupt you in the middle of a class, did I?"

"Nope. You're good. See you later, Iffy."

"Seeya, Dad." Dammit! I did it again! "I mea-" The call ended before I could correct myself. Well, better get moving. I followed the instructions to the letter and saw the work in progress I was told about. I opened the door to see the man that matches the tales my dad told me. Glasses, has all things music in his office, and as bald as can be.

"Hello there!" He said cheerfully.

"Um…Hi…A friend of mine pointed me to you. I was wondering if I could play on one of your steel drums for a while."

"Oh? Was this a friend a student of mine?"

"Yeah. Steven Stanton."

"Oh! Okay then! Do you know how to play?" I could feel a smirk make its way onto my face.

"Mind if I show you instead?" He got up from his desk and handed me a set of sticks for a lead pan. From there, he put the sheet music for Guantanamera in front of me.

"So, what's your name?" He asked me after I finished playing.

"They call me IF."

"It's nice to meet you, IF. I'm Joel Smales."

"Do you mind if I just noodle for a bit?" (Yes, noodling is an actual musical term. It's a term for improvising during practice.)

"Sure. Just make sure to put whatever you get out away."

"No problem." Between the various pans and the guitar, I spent a few hours just playing whatever came to mind. Some of the students that came in for lessons even joined me and we had an impromptu jam session. Even Mr. Smales joined in at some point, playing piano. Let's see…Oh! I met Faith. Dad really did a number on her, from all the stories she told me. Then, there was Ben. He had went to visit the high school an hour after I arrived.

"So…You're Steven's token gay friend…"

"Yup. Nice to see he speaks so highly of me." He said with sass.

"Oh, we're going to get along nicely. But yeah, some of the stories he's told me about some of the things the two of you have done in the past were really funny." Whenever I was taking a break, we'd talk about random things. By the time I got home, it was almost four. Blanc had started dinner and Mom had been tied up on the couch.

"Did Mom try to cook again?" I asked.

"Yes, she did." Steven said. "She went to start making mashed potatoes, and it turned into green slime as she poured the milk in."

"We don't even know how it happened." Ken said from the other couch.

"Mm! Mhmmm…!"

"Okay…? So, what's with the duct tape?"

"She kept trying to convince us to let her try again." Blanc said from the kitchen.

"Mm…" No…Not the sad eyes. I should be the one giving those to you!

"*Sigh*…Fine…I'll take the tape off. I'm not letting you go until dinner's done."

"I just got started, so it'll be a while." I gently ripped the tape off of her mouth.

"Stevie~…Blanc and Iffy are being mean…"

"I'm kind of stuck here myself." He said, stuck to the couch by a sleepy Noire using his chest as a pillow. I noticed that there was a proud smile on her face.

"Make me get up and I'll do worse than tie you up." Steven's punishment that night for not helping mom was…interesting…

So, uh…It's the end of the day and I had to rip my notebook away from Vert. Oh, the look I got.

"Hey, are you writing in the book?"

"Yes, Vert. I am."

"Remember not to look at what I wrote."

"Or what?" I asked, not sure why it was such a big deal.

"Or I'll do something that will make Plutia proud."

"Please don't."

"Don't read it, then."

"Alright. Now I just gotta figure out what the hell I'm gonna do tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" She asked, taking a seat next to me on our shared bed.

"Well, while you all are having your little party, I have to entertain Carmin's son. I was planning on writing with Tehg, but that plan's down the drain now."

"I see. I'm sure you could get Blanc to write with him in Megan's room. If she's down with us, Blanc'd have no problem working with him."

"Yeah, that would probably work. After telling her everything so far, I've caught her binge watching the shows that I've used, and a few I plan on using in the future." Speaking of…I'll just hand this to her for tomorrow.

Alright…um…I don't know how he wants me to do this…

"Just write down what the two of you are saying as you write. No need for spoilers, though." Steven said over my- Holy fuck!

"When did you get here!?"

"Just a second ago. So, when are you going to call Tehg?"

"When I'm done reading what you guys have written so far. By the way, you're an asshole."

"Read the whole sand thing, huh?"

"Yeah…I did…" I growled.

"Well…I'm just going to leave now. Have fun!" I skimmed through the last bit if text and called up Tehg using Skype on Steven's IPod.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"You sound tired, Tehg."

"I am tired. Been having a hard time sleeping." We got to writing for a bit before any real meaningful conversation came up.

"I've always felt bad for Storm."

"Why's that?" He asked.

"He has to deal with Jiraiya. You don't know how many times he had to sit out on quests because of a sprained wrist. There's an equal amount of time Neptune had to sit out for the same reason, albeit for a different reason."

"Porn novels?"

"So many…"

"You really do have to wonder how he's still sane."

"I don't think he was same to begin with. I've talked to him over Xbox. Also, keep up with harassing Johnny. He deserves it."

"Nice to know I have your blessing. Wasn't planning on stopping any time soon."

"What's shark boy and lava girl?" Tehg asked after a bit more writing.

"An old movie that Steven saw when he was a kid. We had the twins watch it once since it was on Netflix. My eyes and brain hurt for the rest of the day because of how bad it looked."

"That sucks." Once again, we fell into a comfortable silence as we wrote.

"Did we really just have her want to pet an A.I.?"

"Yes, Blanc. Yes we did."

"I'm too sober for this."

"Same, but now I can see why you and G1 got married."

"We are pretty similar when I'm in HDD, huh?"

"So, how do you feel about a sandcastle competition?" Tehg asked.

"Rom and Ram?"

"Yeah."

"They always did like sculpting of any kind. You should've seen some of the things they made when their father introduced them to Legos."

*Time Skip*

"They must really miss us."

"I bet. I don't know how long it's been for them, but it's been about four months for you, right?"

"Yeah. It must really be hard. Sure is for me." The whole session basically went on like that. Silent writing followed by idle small talk. Once everything was all said and done, I handed Steven his locked IPod, laptop, and book.

So, it's been awhile since I've written in this thing. To be specific, it's Christmas. Things we're…weird…this year, seeing as how my mom had to work the day shift at work today. We did our Christmas last night, too. Got a PS4 and I'm super happy about that. Unfortunately, I've only got two games for it, and one of them's COD. This morning was…interesting…to say the least. Vert, sometime last night, covered every inch of my ceiling with mistletoe. Add in the fact that we're all crammed into one bed until my sister goes back to school, and I'd be in a rough way. The nights are really cozy, though. Then, there were those outfits. Oh, the outfits. I don't know what she was thinking with those. That, and THAT FUCKING BOOK! The lecture I got from my mom was ridiculous. Talk about embarrassing. I walked out of my grandparents' place 365 dollars richer. Silver lining. It was also a bit awkward to explain to my grandparents and uncle why they were there and dressed like that. All's well that ends well, though. We did, however, completely forget about the mistletoe. When me and Rom walked in my room, it was at that moment that Blanc took it upon herself to remove all of the greenery and burned it out back. She even made Vert watch. All and all, good day.

So, it's been exactly one week since my last entry. In that time I bought Titanfall 2, [Prototype] biohazard bundle, and HDN VII for my PS4 and Rise of Iron for Xbone. For the party we got loaded potato skins, pigs in a blanket (those little hotdogs wrapped in croissant stuff), chips and dip, and some soda. Not really much of a party, but still. My mom and Ken went to bed early, so it's just us.

"You are always writing in that thing." Noire said, probably annoyed that my right arm is constantly moving.

"Sorry. I just want to get as much as I can down, so I can make sure I remember it right."

"I can't blame him. I've had a lot of fun here, all things considered." Blanc said from the recliner.

"How much longer until the ball drops? You always talked about it, so I'm excited." Ram said, nearly vibrating in place on the floor before returning to munch on her chips.

"You said it was really pretty." Rom agreed.

"We have about fifteen minutes before it's the New Year." Vert said. "Does anyone want to share their resolutions?"

"I plan on getting a good amount of this weight off. I'll be happy if I can hide it by just wearing a shirt again." I answered.

"I want to be more outspoken." Rom said with a smile.

"I've got to stop drinking so much of my mother-in-law's wine." Blanc commented.

"I wanna work on my stamina for when we go home. If Steven can walk downtown with no problem, I should be able to too." Iffy said with pride.

"I…don't want things to change…" Noire said, nuzzling into me a bit. "I'm happy with the way things are right now." As the time grew closer to midnight, I said "Happy New Year" to the folks in the group chat, and we just shot the shit for a while.

"It's almost time. Ready to count down?" I asked as I changed the TV channel to the one broadcasting live from Times Square.

"Of course!" Ram cheered.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" We said together. I really should have expected it, but once we finished the countdown, Noire's lips met mine.

"If you two are going to go any farther, make sure that everyone is asleep." Vert teased.

"That was one time, Vert. One time." Noire said as she broke the kiss.

"*Yawn*…Can we go to bed now?" Rom asked cutely.

"Sure. Let's all pile in. I don't know if I'm going to miss that once Megan's gone, honestly." I said as we made our way up the stairs, careful to not get the dogs going.

"It is nice that we don't have to worry if the heat is working or not." Iffy commented.

"But it gets so cramped. Rom's a bed hog."

"Nuh-uh. You're the bed hog, Ram."

"Come on, you two. It's too late to be arguing like this."

"Yes, Mom." As per the usual, I got into bed first, and the others climbed in after. Noire was to my right and Vert to my left, like normal. Everyone else just found a spot before we all fell asleep.

 **So, I was hoping this would be longer, but for most of this I was writing during Finals Week and I had a lot on my plate. Sorry about that. The next one will definitely be longer, and I'll probably put up an actual chapter of We're Really Doing This Again? sometime this coming week. Until then, enjoy your night, and don't get super shitfaced at whatever party you're at.**


	6. Wrapping Up Winter

Chapter 6: Wrapping Up Winter

Ah, finally. Megan is going back to school on the twenty-first. I love my sister to death, as all siblings do, but God damn if she isn't a pain in the ass. Mooching all kinds of money off of my mom for stupid shit she doesn't even need… No matter. I'll have the whole day to myself.

"Excuse you? I think you mean WE have the whole day to ourselves." I heard as a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

"Shouldn't you be playing with the kitten, Noire?"

"She's taking a nap with the twins. Vert's looking for you, by the way. Something about your plans for tomorrow."

"Right. I planned to go the high school tomorrow. The senior this year were freshmen when I was a senior. The last concert of the year would be the last chance I'd get to play with people that I was in a band with, so I was hoping Smales would give me some of the music they'd be playing."

"Aw…That's sweet."

"Thanks. I should really head downstairs, though, before she starts plotting. We don't need a repeat of Christmas."

"That's a good point. I don't think I've ever seen Blanc react like that." I got up from my desk and gave her a kiss before heading downstairs. Vert was sitting in the reclining chair. Doing something on her phone.

"There you are. I've been looking for you."

"That's what Noire told me. What's up? And what are you doing on your phone?"

"Oh, this?" She asked, holding up the phone. "I was just looking up some things and their prices. But as to what I wanted you for…I heard you were going downtown tomorrow. I was wondering if I could come with you. Maybe we could get lunch afterwards. My treat."

"So, what are you trying to find?" I ask, going behind her and looking over her shoulder to see what was on the screen. Surprisingly enough, there were many pictures of houses and how much each house was worth.

"Looks like I've been found out. Here, this is the best one for all of us that I've found so far." She said, clicking on one of the more expensive houses that's on the west side of town. "It has more than enough rooms for all of us, a man-made hot spring in the basement, and other neat goodies."

"That's a little out of our paygrade, Vert. There's no way we could afford all of the utilities for that place, let alone getting the lawn mowed. No way I'm doing that myself."

"I'm going to talk to the others later and see if everyone would be willing to take turns paying for it."

"I…Thanks, Vert."

"Don't mention it. It's my pleasure."

"You just want a gaming room, don't you?"

"I don't even have one back home! You won't let me! Always going on about how I'll turn into a hermit."

"I never showed you? *Sigh*…Fine then." I pulled out my phone and opened up YouTube. The two of us ended up spending the rest of the night watching a Let's Play of the first HDN game.

"I see now what you were talking about."

"Good…Wait, I know that look on your face. You're going to do it anyway."

"Of course I am! I'm going through withdrawal, and I need to one-up that me!"

"Fine, fine, whatever you say. So, about tomorrow…I was thinking that we head over when Iffy and the twins normally go."

"That sounds like a sound idea."

"Okay, plans are set then. Now, let's turn in for the night. You've drained me of everything I had left."

"You're so mean to me some days…" She pouted, but laid down nonetheless. The next day was an…experience. I even learned a very valuable lesson that day. It was that Vert is to NEVER interact with high schoolers. Or Smales, but that's for a different reason with a different story. Any student that was a freshman when I was a senior was teased mercilessly. Especially Faith. It all started when we introduced Vert as Iffy's mother. "I look good for my age, don't I?" Vert had asked at the time, going as far as to have winked at my first lesbian friend. From there, things went into a downward spiral. That wasn't too bad, though. Problems really started when she got talking with Smales. I mean, REALLY talking with him. They're way too similar for my liking, so I'm going to have to keep that down to a minimum. A good hour of our visit, however, was Vert trying to learn to play piano. Who knew that she had the hand-eye coordination to kick ass in an MMORPG, but not for the largest string instrument? Poor thing visibly deflated as Ram visibly mocked her. Thankfully, Rom scolded her sister before she took it too far. Smales ended up inviting her back to see if there was an instrument she could actually play. At this rate, my OC is gonna come back to a family band. I bet Blanc would be pretty good on a kit. When I thought the day was as weird enough, it got even stranger.

"I want to run something by you, Stevie. And girls, you can't say anything to anyone."

"Okay?" Iffy and I asked at the same time.

"Sometime in the coming week or so, I want you to propose to Noire." She said with deadly seriousness.

"WHAT!?" I shouted quietly in surprise. "WHY!?"

"Because then we can have your wedding on Valentine's Day." She said like it was common knowledge.

"Why do you care if they get married?" Rom asked innocently.

"I don't know how long we'll be here, and I've known her long enough to think that we're good friends. And it's the role of a good friend to make sure her friend is happy, and you…" She paused, pointing a finger at me. "Make her happy."

"You want me to try to cram multiple years of being in a relationship into who knows how short of a time?" I ask rhetorically.

"That's what she's saying." Ram answered with sass.

"So that's why she was always trying to get me to talk you into going with her to get a tux…" Iffy muttered to herself.

"I'll think about it. I don't know if I'd be able to bring myself to do it. Contrary to what Noire says, I'm not exactly good at this whole relationship thing."

"You're fine. Given the circumstances, you're doing better than what my version of you did at first with her, according to Neptune." Iffy said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"That's all I ask." Vert said with a smile. I don't think she knew that I could see the disappointment that she was trying to mask. One day, Vert. One day. A little while after we got home I learned of some bad news.

"You're going with us Saturday." My mom said.

"Why? She's going to have so much stuff, I'm probably not gonna fit."

"Who's going to help Ken with the fridge? Because I can't. And we'll make you fit."

"Fun…" So much for having the weekend to do something. Was planning on doing some writing with Tehg, maybe go to dinner with Noire, but that's out the window now. And I'm gonna call bullshit on what she said. If I can lift that little fridge on my own, than the guy that is stronger than me and lifts metal all day for work can too.

"You know that no matter how much you say that, you're mom won't budge about it."

"Do all of you enjoy looking over my shoulder as I write, Iffy, or is it just you and Noire? But yeah, I know. It sucks anyway. Why does she have to be so pig-headed some days?"

"The apple didn't fall far from the tree." She replied.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Did you forget all of your rants to your friends on Xbox about why voting for Trump would be a dumb idea?" Blanc asked, taking a seat on my bed while picking up my 3DS. Earlier this week, she had picked up a copy of Pokémon Sun. "Speaking of friends, have you spoken to either of those two lately?"

"Yeah, or at least, a little. I talked to Johnny a day or so ago when he wasn't getting chewed out by his mom for some reason or another. Ever since that stuff between him and Ray, Storm's been radio silent. I haven't even gotten a text from him linking me to some YouTube video. I know I told him to go take a breather, but that was days ago."

"So you haven't heard much from Neptune or Nepgear then, huh?" Noire asked, carrying Pepper. That's the name of the kitten. I didn't mention that before, did I? My bad.

"Why do you have the little one? You of all people know that she only lets the twins hold her." Iffy stated.

"I WILL get her to love me." Noire answered.

"She will, but just not in the way you would like her to. But to answer your question, they normally text me through Storm, but I think they've got their hands full trying to calm him down. When we talked last, he was absolutely livid. The other possibility is that he's keeping his phone close to the chest." I said, butting into the budding conversation. "Plutie actually shot me a message a little bit ago over Johnny's Facebook account. She was asking for help with Pontiff Sulyvahn since Johnny's at work. This must be her dex/pyromancy build coming back to haunt her. He doesn't exactly give you enough time to rebuff in the middle of the fight. Fast little bastard."

"Can I do it? I'm getting better at it." Rom asked me.

"Sure. Why not? But if she starts getting angry, I'm taking the controller from you."

"Why?" Ram asked.

"I learned that when she gets mad at a video game, she gets mean and loud. Like Michael Jones, the Rage Quit guy, but less cursing and more venom." Iffy answered for me.

"Uh…Okay." So, yeah…Shit hit the fan fairly quickly. The Fire Witches are not gentle on anyone. Add in the fact that Sulyvahn didn't want to change agro from her to me, and it was not a fun evening. She did NOT like the fact that he wasn't letting her buff her sellsword twinblades. A few hours later, the Pontiff was dead and Plutie had finally started calming down.

"Sorry, Stevie. Could you apologize to Rom for me?"

"Sure thing." I lifted the mic away from my mouth as I turned towards the child. "Hey, Plutie says she's sorry for the things she said to you."

"Oh…It's okay."

"She says your apology is accepted. And don't worry about it. This is just one of those games that knows how to bring out the worst in people. I get it. I've gone to a dark place because of this game once or twice myself. But, if you think you're bad, you should've seen what Blanc did once. She threw my old controller threw my old TV. There was so much glass scattered everywhere."

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that! We had a deal!"

"Will you just let me try to make her feel better, Blanc?"

"Now that we punished that sorry excuse for a boss, I feel so~ much better…"

"I bet. It's always satisfying to beat a boss that's been beating your ass for a while." An awkward silence overtook the party before I spoke up again. "So, do you want to keep going, or are we stopping here?"

"We should stop here. Johnny's going to be home soon and, knowing him, he's going to want to put YouTube on before falling asleep on the couch."

"Yup. That sounds like something he'd do. Wanna just sit here and talk then? It's been a while since we've just gone and shot the shit."

"Sure. It's nice to talk to everyone when we can. Do you think you could get Neppy and Neppy Jr. in the party too?"

"I'll try, but no promises. Ever since that thing last weekend, things have been…tense…"

"Johnny did say that there was some big fight between a bunch of you."

"I had no part in that one, this time. I just got Storm to calm down, or at least, try to." I pulled my phone out from underneath Blanc and shot Storm a text asking if the two could get on his Xbox. I never got a response, just the notification that someone had signed onto his account.

"Hello, everyone." Neptune said as soon as "Storm" joined the party.

"Hey Neptune. Hey Gear. Give me a sec. I'm gonna change my settings so that everyone can hear you guys. Hey, Ram?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you go get Vert? Might as well have everyone here, and I don't like it when she's alone. She gets planning and I'm slowly becoming paranoid."

"Okay!" She got up and bolted towards the stairs. By the time I had changed my settings and she came back, we had already started chatting away. And for a while, that's what we did. We got a status update from Storm, saying that he's just giving himself time. Johnny got home and joined in the conversation. He didn't interrupt, though, which caught me off guard. Once all the girls had left and it was just the two of us, I decided to call him out on it.

"Yo, Johnny. How come you didn't stop our conversation? According to Plutie, we were breaking your usual habit for coming home from work."

"Plutie's been in a bit of a funk lately, and she seemed to get happier the longer we talked."

"Ah…That makes sense. Good to know that you're not as much of an asshole as we had all thought you were."

"Fuck you, G1."

"How about NO. I have a girlfriend, sir." I look up at the clock to see that it's getting pretty late for how early I'll have to get up tomorrow morning. "Look, I gotta get going. Early morning wakeup call to drag my sister's ass back to school."

"Sucks to suck."

"You would know all about sucking, wouldn't ya?"

"Night, G1."

"Later, Johnny." So, that Saturday was…fun…We've been telling my sister to not over pack all month, yet that's EXACTLY what she did. Last time we moved her up there, we had all the space in the world using the UHAUL and she bitched about that. But this time, she expected us to fit a mirror that was taller than she was in the trunk of our '06 Hyundai Elantra with the rest of her shit. So, the four of us crammed into the car and left the house in the care of the girls. Hopefully they can keep the twins from burning it down while we're gone. Both of her new roommates seemed pretty nice when we first met them, but I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Megan was acting up, for a lack of a nicer term. When we were in the store she was being awful rude about us just trying to help her. Ruder than normal, mind you. So, it's a bit understandable that, when we got home at five, I flopped onto my bed and yelled "Freedom!" into my pillow like I was Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

"Glad she's gone, I take it?" Vert asked.

"She was being more and more of a bitch as time went on."

"So the usual, then?" Iffy half asked half stated.

"We had a whole game plan to go to Pondarosa for lunch. But of course, once we were there, Megan decided that she didn't like the sound of it anymore."

"What did you end up doing, then?" Blanc asked.

"We ditched her and ended up going to Pizza Hut."

"Fun." Noire said sarcastically. "What's her roommates like? Any better than the ones from the dorms?"

"They were pretty nice. Hopefully, the RA of the two will keep her in line."

"You're funny! You should go become a comedian!" Ram shouted cheerfully before she and her sister started giggling.

"Real cute, you two." We bantered for a bit before settling back into our usual routines. By that Friday, I had made my decision about what Vert had brought up at lunch last week. Tuesday, Vert (my wallet for these kinds of things) and I went to the mall to go get a ring. It was an interesting affair, given the fact that the two of us could not come to an agreement on the style. I wanted something simple that meant something. She, on the other hand, thought I should get Noire the biggest, flashiest thing in the place. Luckily, the lady at the counter had found one that met in the middle ground. It was a simple gold band that was a bit wider than a standard women's ring. On it was a decent sized starburst cut diamond, surrounded by twelve green and black gems. "Ma'am, you just had a ring like this just hanging around?"

"It was a custom order from someone some time ago. They never came to pick it up, and we can't just send it back. No one until you two wanted it, so it's been sitting here since." And that's how we got my real fancy engagement ring for about half off. I ended up taking a different route than most would expect on Friday. I took her to the romantic dinner and all that jazz, but I didn't ask her there. Really, there was only one reason why I didn't. I…didn't want all that attention. As far as Noire knew, we were just on a very fancy date.

"Tonight was wonderful, Steven." Noire said as we entered our shared room.

"Thanks…It took a lot longer to plan than I thought it would." I replied, fiddling with the ring box in my pants pocket. "Hey, I have a question for you."

"What is it?" She asked as she slid off the single strap of her dress.

"Well, I didn't want to do this at the restaurant because I didn't want all that attention." I pulled out the box. "I've never been good with the whole romance thing, and I didn't really prepare a speech or anything so I'll just ask. Will you marry me?" Her eyes teared up as she fell to her knees, starring at the now open box and displaying the gold ring. Honestly, I was expecting this.

"Of course…" Noire said in a hushed whisper. "Of course I will!" She answered, but much louder this time, leaping up and kissing me. The moment was nice, until Vert and the others ruined it.

"It's about time!" Ram cried out.

"Yeah…" Rom agreed.

"You two got close really quickly. I'm honestly surprised that it took this long. I was beginning to think Noire was gonna ask you before you asked her." Iffy commented.

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence, you guys." I said as the two of us separate.

"I've already planned out all the details for the wedding." Vert said. "All I have to do is set the reservation dates. I was thinking Valentine's Day."

"Um…Vert…That's a Tuesday. He'll be in class, so we couldn't do it then. Plus, it's the middle of the week. Not everyone would be able to attend." Blanc commented.

"Oh. I forgot about that." Vert said before pausing. "How about that weekend?"

"Why don't we just get some time to adjust to this? This is a big change, and I'd rather plan things well enough in the future so that everyone can get the time off to be there." Noire said.

"Right. Sorry, I just got caught up in all of this. I had so much fun planning the last few times that I got ahead of myself."

"It's okay. We've had a bit of a night, so we're gonna turn in. Also, Noire's just standing here in her underwear and I think she'd like to get changed." I commented. So, from there we went to bed and moved on with our lives.

Looking back on things as I write this the day before I go back to class for the spring semester, not much really happened. I was mostly just sitting around, doing things around the house and trying to keep myself from strangling my sister for the bullshit she would put us through. Wow…So much for having a bit more than a month off to do things. I didn't even get to write as much with Tehg. We've gone a whole month or so and haven't finished the chapter we're working on. Vert's really put the pressure on the last few days on about the wedding. She's been trying time and time again to get me fitted for a tux. Vert, come on. We have plenty of time. We even agreed on when we were having it. We really need to put a lid on that woman, or else she'll come up with something so insane that no one can deal with. I do like the fact that she has earned the title of ultimate wing-woman. But I digress… I should wrap this before I start ranting and sound like a conspiracy theorist.

 **Sorry for the quality of some of the parts of this. When I went to start typing this, I thought I had written more in my book than I did, so I kind of had to wing it. Can't exactly move ink down to a different page like you can in word. Tehg and I are trying our best to try to finish the chapter we're working on, so We're Really Doing This Again won't get an update until that's done. I like to have at least one chapter in storage just to be safe. Well, until next time, see ya.**


	7. Four Months in One Day

Chapter 7: Four Months in One Day

 **The long awaited moment has arrived! I finally finished writing this thing. Honestly, because of a lot of stuff that's been going on, it's been hard finding the free time to put pen to paper. So, on with the show, for there are things to come.**

So, two weeks have passed since school started back up. To translate, it's the middle of February. It hasn't been too bad, honestly. My two eight o'clock classes comes with doughnuts. The only real problem is the fact that that same class makes me post these three discussion things by the end of each week. Kind of annoying if you ask me.

"Well, if you ask ME, it seems like a good idea of your teacher. This way you guys will actively look into classroom topics." Noire said, placing her hands on my shoulders.

"Yeah, I know." I reached behind me to pull her into a kiss. "You know, this is almost surreal."

"What do you mean?"

"Half a year ago, I I'd just be a single student forever, moping about 'til the end of my days. Now, I'm going to be married to the woman I've fallen in love with, and I couldn't be happier with everyone being here."

"I…Wow, Steven. I didn't know we affected your life so much. Wait…How come you don't call me 'babe' or nicknames like that? Your mom and Ken do."

"It doesn't feel right to call someone names like that. Sorry. If you want, I can start."

"Don't worry about it. Do you have any plans for Tuesday?"

"Not quite yet. I'm having Blanc reading a bunch of romance novels so I can avoid all the clichés."

"So that's why she's reading Twilight." Noire mused.

"She better fuckin' not be! I'm not taking Valentine's Day advice from that…thing…" I said, scrunching my face and folding my arms across my chest.

"I read it before she did." Iffy said, interrupting the fantasy nerd anger that was going 'round and 'round in my head. "I don't see why you get so angry, but I think I see what you're getting at."

"Vampires don't sparkle! And the characters are flatter than a run over pizza box!"

"At least you'll have a 'What not to do' guide from it." My fiancé stated.

"Well, in that case I'm batting a thousand. You aren't knocked up with a half-vampire baby that's slowly killing you from the inside out."

"That's actually a thing that happens?" She asked.

"Yeah, it is…Then there was a big debate about abortion." Iffy answered. "Kind of a cheap way to create drama, really."

"We're in agreement then. Awesome."

"I'm still upset that you wouldn't let ME plan anything for today." A new voice said.

"Vert, you're an awesome wingman and everyone knows it. Still, I need to do things for myself, too."

"True, true. It warms my heart that you think so highly of me, though."

"Why don't we just stay home? Watch a movie or something? The point of the holiday is to be with your loved ones, isn't it?" Noire asked rhetorically.

"That sounds like a plan. It'd be a pain to get a reservation someplace and what not this late anyways."

"I did all that reading for nothing? Dammit!" Blanc shouted, walking into the room. "I went through four different series for you."

"Sorry, Blanc…Hey, at least you have some dos and don'ts for writing a story." I commented. (My hatred for Twilight is endless and unyielding.)

"I guess…it wasn't all bad. Some of them weren't half bad." I let a groan out at her words.

"Just let it go, Stevie. Let it go." Vert said, patting my shoulder since Noire moved to my lap.

"*Sigh* I'll try, but no promises." We watched Avengers: Age of Ultron while having pizza from Nirchi's.

It's now the week of March thirteenth. This weekend will probably be the greatest of my life. Well over a month of planning has gone into the preparations for this wedding. We got my uncle to be the DJ, we've got my childhood priest to conduct the ceremony, the venue was reserved well in advance, and I'm getting super anxious. I mean, everything is taken care of, but still.

"I'm getting nervous, too. Our wedding is only a week away." Noire said, resting a hand on my left thigh. "But I'm glad we're doing this. Neptune, Nepgear, and Plutia said they were coming with Johnny and Storm. I think Plutia said he was bringing a few more people."

"That would probably be Connor and Will. Glad to hear that they finally got back to us. I probably should've went straight to them instead of through those two. Now you'll actually have some people on your side of the church."

"Yeah. I'm surprised that they're letting Mr. Smales play the organ."

"Same, though I'm pretty sure all the samples of him playing helped out a lot. If he can teach Vert to play, he can play a wedding procession…Hey, didn't Megan put a bachelorette party together for you?"

"She did, but I'm not exactly thrilled."

"I don't blame you for being worried. Knowing my sister, it's going to be a night of nothing but drinking."

"And knowing Ben, you're in for a rough night yourself. Worst part is they're both on the same night."

"I'm scared enough as it is, Noire. No need to make it worse." I said with a chuckle. "At least Blanc will be there to keep my sister in line. She's got a level enough head."

"About that…"

"What happened?"

"It's not what happened, but what will happen."

"Just tell me. I need to know if I'm going to have to make a trip down to the police station."

"You won't. I'm just…a lightweight…" Blanc said bashfully, taking a seat on the other couch. "I also tend to pick fights."

"Megan! You're dealing with a rowdy drunk!" I called up to her.

"Not the first time!" She yelled back.

"She's not prepared for the bar fight."

"No, Noire. No she's not."

"I'm right here, you know. And I don't involve the whole bar every time."

"Oh, we know." I said.

"And it's only most of the time that you cause a bar fight."

"Is that why we aren't letting Mom have any of the peach stuff on the counter?" Ram asked, popping up from behind the couch.

"*Sigh*…Yeah…" Her mother answered.

"So, when are we moving into the new place?" Iffy asked at the dinner table a few hours later.

"Well, we had originally planned on doing it this week, seeing as how Megan is home, but with the wedding going on, things have been a little hectic." My mom answered as we ate dinner at Grande's. It was Friday and damn you Lent! Oh yeah, probably should've wrote it down sooner that we ended up buying the house Vert found a few days after we told my family about the engagement. Best part about it was it basically had a separate house inside of it that would be perfect for the two of us. The only downside was it was on the west side, exactly on the other side of town. "We'll probably move in during Steven's spring break. It really depends on when we're able to get time off."

"Hopefully the heater in this one works." Ken added with a laugh.

"If I have to go down and duct tape it like I've had to do recently, I'm gonna blow a gasket." I said with a ting of real anger.

"Really, the week seemed to go by slower and slower as the days passed. We took care of all the last minute things like my suit and the flowers. Noire ended up sewing it like she did her own dress. Speaking of suits…

"I don't look good in this at all." I said, struggling with my tie in an attempt to make it more comfortable.

"You're fine." My first gay friend and best man said. "Though you are more of a sports coat type."

"The colors are nice, though. These stripes are weird to see on a suit, but it goes well with her theme." The jacket and pants had white circuit style stripes running across them. "Oh boy…"

"Need me to slap you?"

"Hard enough to snap me out of this without leaving a mark." And Ben, being Ben, did so. "Fuck!"

"You good?" He asked as I rubbed my jaw.

"I'll be fine. It's about time, isn't it?" I asked, looking up at the clock.

"Yup. Time to sell your freedom."

"Well, unlike public school, I'll be glad to do it this time." As the two of us took our spots, my step brother Trevor joined us. On the other of the alter stood Blanc and Neptune, with Neptune as the Maid of Honor. Trevor's and Ben's suits were an inverse color scheme to mine. White coat and pants, black vest and white shirt. Blanc and Neptune's dresses were ankle length, crimson red dresses with a ruffled skirt. Each pew was connected by green, black, and white ribbons with matching bows. After looking over everything, I turned and gave a nod to Father Cory. All of us made small talk before Smales began to play. The twins had simple knee length yellow dresses on as they sprinkled flowers onto the pathway. I'd say the whole thing went really well, except for when I absolutely flubbed my vows. Don't judge me, I was rightfully nervous. So, after I recovered the fumble, the wedding basically concluded and we all made our way to the reception. That is, after we took ALL OF THE PICTURES. Like, come on, Mom. There is such a thing as too many pictures. And I'm surprised that she could take decent pictures with all the tears in her eyes. We didn't reserve a limo. We would we, when we had my stepdad's silver 1990 Mustang GT 5.0. We rode in that to the Chenango Bridge fire station. It's easy to get the place to have the reception when your uncle's the fire chief. The tables had the same décor as the church. For cocktail hour, we had a mix of classy and…food that I'd serve during a super bowl party. For example, bruschetta and tiny hotdogs baked into croissants. Once that was done and some people were starting to have a good time, the fun began. The dinner choices everyone had were a vegetarian salad, steak with a baked potato and mixed veggies, and a marinated chicken breast with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a side salad. As everyone was eating, or the dick (Johnny) who was constantly clinking on their glass, Ben stood up.

"Oh no…" I whined, knowing what was about to happen.

"You know, as soon as Steven asked me to be his Best Man, I got really excited. I would get to make a Best Man speech. Then, as I got writing my original version, I got disappointed. I got to the part where I'd start sharing some embarrassing stories, and I realized that he's already told them all to anyone within earshot. So thanks for killing my fun, you killjoy."

"It's one of the few things I do best, Ben." I quipped.

"You're so funny…" He deadpanned as he sat down.

"Then I believe it's my turn." Neptune said, rising from her seat.

"Please don't…" Noire begged quietly.

"Let's start with her habit of kidnapping cats. For the longest time, if she saw one unattended, she'd try to make off with it. We're lucky she adopted one, or else she'd still be doing it." There was a chorus of laughter as Noire buried her head into her hands while leaning into my shoulder. Even her ears were a bright red. Thankfully for her, someone (Johnny) clinked their glass again. I sighed at Johnny's annoying antics before kissing my wife once more. It was going to be a long night with him around. "One time, we ended up walking in on her making a cosplay outfit, she freaked out like we walked in on her doing something…unsavory…" We had to silence her because she was getting into stories that none of the children should be hearing. Once that crisis was averted, Ben stood again while Neptune stayed standing.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say I'm glad to have met you."

"And that you both live happily together for the rest of your lives." Neptune finished for Ben. Once dinner was done, we went to the dance floor. Well, after we changed. I discarded my jacket, while Noire changed into a knee length dark blue dress with black lace held up by two spaghetti straps. It was no Dancing with the Stars, but that's mostly because I might as well have two left feet. Johnny was surprisingly light on his feet. Honestly, it was a great time. Clean up, not so much.

"How did we end up having to clean up our own reception?" Noire asked, holding a broom.

"Well, my brother did let us use the station for free, so this is the least we could do. My mom answered, while throwing away a couple plastic cups.

"Then why are we still here?" Johnny asked, turning towards the resident dominatrix.

"Come on, Johnny. They deserve to get home as soon as possible." Connor said and Plutie hummed in agreement.

"And the sooner you start helping, the sooner you can go home." Storm added.

"*Sigh*…Fine…Hand me a box for these candles…" We spent a solid two hours cleaning up and packing away the extra food.

"I can't believe that today was a thing." I said with a smile, sprawling out on my back once we got home. My jacket, shirt and tie had been tossed into a corner of the room.

"It's crazy, isn't it? And soon we'll have a place all to ourselves." Noire responded, wearing nothing but black lacy underwear, who was curled up next to me. A comfortable silence fell between us, seeing as how Vert decided to give us the space some newlyweds need.

"I love you." I said, bringing her into a tighter embrace.

"I love you, too." After that, well, things happened that I probably shouldn't go into detail about in a public journal that children could read.

Several weeks have passed since then, and the predictable happened when you consider a newlywed couple.

"…Why…?" Noire groaned, leaning over the toilet, throwing up her breakfast.

"We have had a LOT of sex." I commented, rubbing her back with my left hand.

"Some days, I wish I hated you."

"Yes, dear." I said sarcastically.

"Are we going to have a sister?" Rom asked.

"I'd be fine with a little brother." Iffy stated.

"Yeah. I think we have enough women in the house as it is." Blanc said, agreeing with her.

"You all do realize that moving in a few weeks has become that much harder? Noire has to be more careful now." Vert asked all of us from Megan's room.

"Even harder with the fact that if my eye exam goes how I think it's going to, we'll have to make sure my fuck up self doesn't smash his glasses or kill his kid to be."

"You're a klutz, but not that much of one." Vert said.

"Well, maybe if you took care of yourself better, maybe your eyes wouldn't be going bad." Blanc said with a healthy amount of snark.

"Yeah, I know." Turns out, I had to reschedule that eye appointment because we had to make an emergency trip up to Canton. Some stuff happened with Megan, so things got real rough for all of us. Especially when we had to stay in her dorm the following Tuesday. But that was because of the heat of so many bodies in the room. The twins decided to come along. And by that, I mean I had them come to keep my mom from falling asleep at the wheel so I could sleep through the ride. Between the lack of sleep and the fact that everyone was stressed…well…it wasn't a fun night. Later that week, we made ANOTHER trip up to Canton, and we had EVERYBODY. It was Easter, though, and we got the big van for this very reason. It was actually fun this time, even though Meg's dorm room was super crowded. Then, came moving day…Wooo…

"Come on! Come on!" Ram shouted, jumping on my bed.

"Ram…The trucks are already packed…We have all day…" I groaned, rolling over while pulling my comforter up over my head.

"Get up…It's almost noon. We were going to leave two hours ago, remember?" Iffy asked, clearly annoyed with me.

"So that's why the bed is empty…" I said, looking down at the pillow in my arms.

"Yeah, now get up. Everyone else went ahead already."

"Fine, fine." I said, getting up and reaching for the glasses that I had gotten yesterday. "But, we're swinging by McDonald's on the way there."

"I'm okay with that." Iffy said before leaving to let me get dressed. After getting my 'breakfast', the three of us made our way to the new place. Moving in went fairly well. I only dropped a couch on my foot twice and only broke one box of glassware. And my glasses survived!

"This is…really empty…" I said, looking over our part of the house. There was almost no furnishing. Basically, the few pieces of furniture that was in my room and a few things from the attic that my mom said we could use.

"We knew we'd have to go shopping, but this is more than I expected."

"The funny thing is, the rest of the house is just as empty, even though they have more stuff."

"What is your mom planning on doing?"

"She's going with Vert to Olum's to get beds and what not. Blanc is taking the twins to get plates and electronics from Walmart. We have Ken and Iffy to do our bidding."

"That's not how you should talk about the ones that are lending you a hand." Ken said with a smirk.

"I know, but it's so much fun. We should get furniture first, right? That way we'll have a place to put everything." After spending several hours debating over things like which washer/dryer set would be best for us and which coffee table would look the best in our living room, we had all of our furniture and large scale appliances. From there, we went to Walmart in Vestal to get the rest of things we needed. We also made sure to get paint. The two of us agreed that the dream and brown color scheme was awfully dull. They were replaced with teal and a calm white respectively.

"Should we go get everyone?" Iffy asked, looking over the large room that will serve as both our living room and dining room.

"The quicker we finish painting, the better, so I'd say yes." Ken said.

"We can save painting our bedroom for a later day. We want that to be set up, at least, so we have somewhere to be while the paint dries." I replied. Once everyone that wasn't busy with something came to help out, we painted until nightfall. Each wall had several coats of paint on them, so that is done. No need to touch them again. All the new stuff was set up and connected to what they needed to be connected to, and everything that needed to be put in cupboards was.

"You know what sucks about this new place?" I asked as we all ate dinner together.

"What's that?" My mom asked.

"I can't walk to class anymore."

"Why are you so obsessed with walking, anyway?" Ram asked.

"It's my daily exercise. I've dropped a pants size doing all of that walking."

"We can always get some stuff for that. We all need it." Blanc suggested. "Can't exactly do what we normally did to keep in shape."

"Can't argue with that. We were talking about putting the house on a diet before you girls came along. The three of us could really do to lose some weight." Ken added.

"Speaking of that diet, I do have a question. Why is there so many boxes of Hamburger Helper in the basement?" I asked, taking a glance over in the twins' direction.

"…I wanted some for when we went home…" Rom answered as she dipped her head.

"…Okay then. So, how are all of your rooms?" I asked the ones at the table who had normally stayed in either mine or Megan's room.

"We got everyone moved in easily enough. There are some boxes that still need to be opened, but none of it is anything necessary." My mom said.

"It's strange, having a room of my own. It has been a very, very long time since the last time I've had a bed to myself." Vert commented.

"Blanc, please make sure she doesn't become a shut in." I asked half-jokingly.

"Sure. No problem."

"We actually thought of this ahead of time. When she boots up any gaming platform, a timer in her computer will start. After about five hours, it will shut down." Iffy reported, smirking at her mother.

"How could you betray me like this?" Vert asked her daughter with tears in her eyes and a wobble to her voice.

"Mom, this is for your own good." Everyone laughed at Vert's expense as she pouted.

"This is going to take some getting used to." Noire said, wandering around the room in her dark blue nightgown, which was transparent except for the two places that mattered.

"Yeah. Never thought I'd ever live in a mansion." I said, sitting up on our now queen sized bed.

"Well, it's not QUITE a mansion."

"The point still stands. I'm in a huge house, I'm gonna be a dad, I'm graduating with my Associates in May, and I'll be going to RIT in the fall." I paused for a moment because something came to mind. "What are we going to do when fall comes around?"

"Well, we could always rent an apartment in town."

"That could work. But, yeah, this'll take a lot of adjusting." I laid back down, and Noire joined me with our foreheads touching. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Good night, Noire."

"Good night, Steven."

 **I finally got this done! Huzzah! I've learned slowly but surely that when you're writing based on day to day things, there isn't really much to go on, and makes this process even slower. But hey, this beats the holiday only chapters, huh?**


	8. End of a Chapter of Life

Chapter 8: End of a Chapter of Life

 **Hey! It's me! G1! I did a thing! Here's the thing! Sorry, but it's gonna be a short one, because my life is boring as shit. Not much to really write about. So, on with this shit show.**

The last few weeks have been…hectic…In class, we had to wrap up a whole lot of stuff. I had to write two essays, a formal write up, and machine a box to put a project in. The project turned out really good, actually. Basically, there was an LED light strip, and a different amount of the lights would light up with a different intensity depending on the volume of sound that the microphone is picking up. Noire is starting to get her baby bulge, though it's fairly small. The twins were getting, and won't listen when we try to explain that these kinds of things take a lot of time. The house as a whole is finally fully furnished, and I had a lot of paperwork to fill out.

"You'd think it'd be easier on them to minimize this stuff." I said, getting my medical history stuff together.

"I'm pretty sure it's more of a formality. It helps keep things organized."

"They want us to go get my shot record, fill out the online form, and print out a conformation form that the doc has to fax to them. That's frustrating as hell."

"You're going to RIT, a big name private school. This should be the least of your worries."

"I know. And the worst of my worries is gone."

"And what would that be?"

"They have a pep band."

"You and that saxophone…"

"You mean the sexyphone."

"No. No I don't…" Noire left the room as I did the necessary work. "Hey? Why don't we go do something?" She asked as she re-entered the dining room. "It's been a while and we won't have the free time next week."

"Oh yeah. You guys are going to help move Megan out of her dorm, right? Sure, I'm down to do something. It'll have to be later, though. It's grocery day and Mom'll need the help."

"Okay. That'll give me plenty of time to think of something." I went to leave, but then a neat little thought came to mind.

"Hey, I know that you want this to be a date, but can you find something for all of us? Ever since we've moved in here, we've all kind of…grown distant." My worries that I upset her were gone when I saw the gentle smile crawl its way onto her face.

"Sure. That's not a problem at all. We really haven't gotten the chance to hang out with each other."

"Cool." I looked at the clock on the wall that I had made in seventh grade and saw it was ten-thirty. "Well, I've got to go." I said, grabbing my bag along with the key to the Ford Focus we got. "I'll see you after I'm done at the high school."

"Okay. See you later." She said after we gave each other a kiss. The day dragged on, especially once I had gotten to the school I had graduated from. Turns out that Smales wasn't there and the sub wasn't going to be of any help. Thankfully the seniors, who were freshman when I was a senior, knew what they were doing. "You look tired." Noire said as I walked into our room. She was at the computer and Chrome was open in the hot bar.

"I am. Smales wasn't there and Bina was a bore as usual."

"That's too bad. I found something we could do, and we don't have to worry about time because tomorrow's Saturday."

"Oh? Cool. What is it?"

"Mini golf at a place called Chuckster's. It's in Vestal." She pulled up the page to show me.

"I've been meaning to go there for a while. I was originally gonna go for a steel drum gig, but I went to a Kansas concert with Veech. And the twins will love it."

"That they will. It's one of the few things we don't have." She paused for a bit as I put all my things away. "Do you know that IF has been using your Skype account?"

"No. No I didn't." I pulled the charge cable out of my phone and brought up Skype. I saw that Iffy had been private messaging Bryce for a quite a long time. "Huh. Guess she misses talking to her boyfriend."

"Do you blame her though?"

"Nope. Won't stop me from teasing the two of them though."

'Hey, Iffy? You do realize that since you're using MY account, I can see everything the two of you've talked about?' I sent the message to the private chat before sitting down in a chair, crossing one leg over the other.

'I…uh…I can explain…' She responded after a few moments.

'No, no…There's no need for that. I've read everything that I needed to.'

'G1, please don't be mad at her. It was my idea.'

'Bryce, I'm not mad. I just see an opportunity is all.'

'Oh no.' Is all Bryce replied with as the chat died.

"Why do you do these kinds of things?"

"Because it's fun."

"That's mean. She's just trying to keep something of what she had back home."

"I know that, it's just that I'm not nice."

"That's not true at all."

"Yeah, I know. Hey, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

"You were talking about trying to make something of your father's again the other day. You wouldn't tell me what it was, so I couldn't get anything out of the freezer."

"Right. I did say that, didn't I?"

"Do we have everything we need to make it?"

"I don't think we have any potatoes, but we've got everything else."

"Mom should have a bag we could use."

"I'll go ask. And while I'm over there, I'll see if everyone if they want to go tomorrow." I got up from my recliner and walked over to the other half of the house. "Hey, Mom! I need some potatoes!" I called out as I walked into their kitchen and grabbed the bag from the floor. Afterwards I went around asking everyone if they were free tomorrow and that we were going to go do something. They agreed and I went back to my own kitchen to get to work. I defrosted some chicken, cut it into strips, and breaded them with a mixture of breadcrumbs, seasoned salt, and some pepper. I cut the potatoes into steak fries and rolled them in a bit of seasoned salt and paprika. From there, they went into the deep fryer that I had convinced Noire to by a week ago.

"So this is what you wanted this for." Noire said, walking in.

"Yup. I couldn't ever get Mom to buy one, but you fall for the puppy dog eyes every time."

"S-Shut up! I do not!"

"Noire, I pouted just a little bit in Wal-Mart and you let me buy a cheesecake."

"So what? It was just some cheesecake. And it was pretty good, too."

"I pouted a lot harder and you let me tie you up before we had sex that one night."

"I-I thought that we agreed that you wouldn't use that a blackmail!?"

"No, we agreed that you liking being tied up wasn't to be used."

"I did NOT like that!" She shouted, face turning atomic red.

"Then why did you ask to do it again after that night?" Before the conversation about who has what kink could continue, the egg timer I had set went off. I double checked everything to make sure it was done before shaking off the excess oil and making two plates. There was a little bit extra, but meh.

"That smells pretty good."

"If this went as planned, it'll taste just as good." She picked up a piece of chicken from her plate and took a bite. "Well?" I asked as she chewed for a bit.

"Good."

"Awesome. If there's one thing my dad had going for him, it was that he knew his way around a kitchen for basic meals. Did you know that pinning pineapple to turkey gives it a subtle sweetness?"

"Huh…Never would have thought of that, honestly."

"Me neither. It's just one of the things he'd do. Like that one year that we had wild turkey for Thanksgiving. Best turkey ever."

"What's it like?" Iffy asked, entering our dining room before stealing a strip and a few fries from my plate.

"It had a bit of a gamey taste, but was tenderer and held the flavor better."

"And how did that happen?" It seems like everyone decided to pay us a visit, because Vert seemed to be the curious one that asked this question.

"I never told you? Well, my dad liked to go out hunting. One time, he was out testing a new sight he put on his shotgun. Now, the important part of this story is that it was deer season. When he pulled the trigger to see how much he'd have to adjust the sight, that stupid ass turkey decided to pop its head up from the bush and BAM! Turkey for Thanksgiving."

"That's…one way to go hunting…" Blanc deadpanned.

"My father is many things. Intelligent is not one of them."

"Why golf?" Ram asked.

"It's mini-golf, and it was my idea. I thought it would be something we could all enjoy, seeing as how it's supposed to be nice out tomorrow." Noire answered the eternal preteen.

"Oh, okay."

"Have you been there before?" Rom asked, turning towards me while following her older sister's lead.

"Can some of you steal from the extras plate or something? I'd like to actually have some of my dinner." Ram's hand shied away from my plate as she took a step back. "Thanks. But no, I haven't. I ended up going to a concert instead."

"Was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was."

"What time is okay for all of us to go? I don't think I had Steven ask."

"They have food there, so we could go early, eat after a round, then play again." Iffy suggested.

"How would you know they have food?" Blanc asked.

"Googled it." She replied as she lifted up one of her many phones.

"Right. We have that."

"Sometimes you're so forgetful." Vert teased.

"Some of us don't need technology to live." Blanc fired back.

"Okay!" I said loudly, clapping my hands together. "How does leaving here at nine-thirty sound?"

"Ugh! That's so early!" Vert and Ram complained at the same time.

"Then sleep in. We'll just go without you." Noire said offhandedly.

"Iffy, dear, you wouldn't let them leave me behind, right?"

"Yeah, sis. You wouldn't go without us, right?"

"If you make your bed, you ought to sleep in it."

"Hehehe…I see what you did there…" I said, chuckling at the clever wordplay of my alternative version's daughter. We finished eating and spent the rest of the night. Surprisingly, the two complainers were up and about the next morning, even though they were running on caffeine and had bags under their eyes. Everyone was in comfy spring clothes, ranging from jeans to shorts of varying lengths. Everything was going fine and we all having fun until we got to hole five.

"I can take on the toughest of monster and smash through concrete, but I can't put a plastic ball in a fucking hole!?" Blanc growled angrily. The entire time she had taken at least five strokes more than anyone else.

"Blanc, calm down. We're here to have some fun, not to break something over your knee." I said, trying to calm her down.

"Easy for you to say."

"He's not doing much better than you." Iffy stated, defending me. "If you wanted to be mad at anyone, be mad at Mom."

"Hey…don't do that…" Rom said with a frown.

"Yeah! It's not her fault she's spanking your butt!" Ram, why? Why must you throw fuel onto the flame? The sound of metal groaning was enough evidence that her daughter had pushed Blanc close to the tipping point.

"Maybe we should take a break and relax for a moment." Vert suggested, trying to diffuse the now dangerous situation.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me finish out this hole." After three more attempts, the ball fell into the plastic cup and we went to sit at a picnic table nearby. "It's all downhill from here, isn't it?"

"Pretty much. Don't worry, Blanc. I'll be joining you shortly. Honestly, I'm doing much better than expected." I said, lightly punching her shoulder. Turns out, Blanc's got a slow start up time while Vert had already reached her peak. That must have made bedroom fun-time weird for…me…Well, when the threesomes happened, at least. Blanc just must've needed a whole lot of foreplay… So… now that this awkward, EVERYONE beat out Vert in the end, and Blanc stole the win from Iffy by one point. The end of that game repeated itself after lunch, except that I actually beat the twins this time around.

"Today was fun!" Blanc cheered, absolutely beaming.

"Yeah…Fun…" Vert's head hung low, and you could almost see the rain cloud above her.

"Cheer up, Mom. You can't say today wasn't fun."

"It was, but losing so horribly after doing so well leaves a sour taste in my mouth."

"Here, here." Ram agreed.

"I can't wait. A few more weeks and we could have days like this all summer." I sighed, leaning back into the car seat. "Maybe we could go to the gorges in Ithaca."

"Gorges?" Rom asked.

"Yeah. It's where the rivers in the area had carved through the ground. There's all kinds of waterfalls and trails that we can walk and see it all."

"How far away is that?" Noire asked.

"About an hour's drive. And there's all kinds of other stuff to do."

"Like what?" Ram asked.

"Well, there's this bakery Megan and I go to for smoothies, a lakefront beach, and a mall that's much bigger than the one we have here."

"We could easily make a day of it. Maybe bring some stuff for lunch." Iffy stated.

"Then it's decided. Some weekend here soon we'll all go and spend the day in Ithaca."

Over the course of the next few weeks, I learned that it was painfully difficult to learn three whole pieces of music on my own. With how my schedule lined up with the school's, I couldn't go in very often. Playing with the last batch of kids I went to school with was fun, but the concert itself was just a tad disappointing. There was so many creative pieces, like students calling their parents phones just to have them go off, a duet between a trombone and a slide whistle, and one kid walked up and down the isles playing an accordion, and yet the jazz band was basically nothing but saxophones. Not much jazz in that band. The seniors got Smales a scrap book full of pictures from one of their trips, a bobble head of him, and tiny bottles of Coke that said "Smales 2017" on them.

Graduation was three days later, on my mom's birthday of all days. Honestly, it was a bore. The "mandatory rehearsal" was pointless, the speeches droned on forever, the organization was an absolute clusterfuck, and leaving the arena was even more of one. The only reason that anyone could find me as the thousand or so of us piled out onto the street was the fact that I had grabbed this green balloon that was as wide as my torso. But, I don't regret it, because that's just the end to just one of many more chapters in my life. And now, it's time to turn the page.

 **Okay. Like I said, this was a short one. With how much of a crunch this last semester has been, I didn't exactly have the time or focus to make anything bigger. But, oh well. I'll just have to make it up to you all next chapter. Or in my other story. Until then, later.**


	9. Things Were So Good, Too

Chapter 9: Things Were So Good, Too

 **I'M SO SORRY! I haven't done anything for this story for almost two months, even though I've had this chapter done since August. I've just been so busy with classes, that I haven't had the time. So, without further delay, here it is. The, in theory, second to last chapter of this story.**

We didn't end up going to Ithica until a few weeks after graduation. The one week we had originally planned on going, Megan's friend and roommate Emily came over for the weekend. But that's okay. I got Battlefield One for the PS4 and preordered the Crash Bandicoot remake. I can't wait for that to come out. I put the rose tinted lenses on so fast that I'm pretty sure I hurt myself a little.

"Which one are we going to?" Blanc asked from one of the back seats of the van.

"We're going to go to Treman first, then Taughannock. When we're done there, we'll go to the park across the street to have lunch and whatever." My sister, the driver, answered.

"Do you think that we have enough food for all of us? I'm sure we made enough, but I don't want to get there to find out we didn't." Vert asked, worried.

"Vert, we made enough to feed the entire house, plus Neptune, Nepgear, Plutia, Johnny and Storm a three course meal. There's enough food." Noire stated to reassure her.

"If you say so."

Megan got fed up with us really quickly. As soon as we put on some music that we could all agree on, the car ride turned into a karaoke session. About an hour later, we pulled into the parking lot of Treman State Park. Luckily, we got there early enough that we got a parking spot near the entrance to the trail.

"Wake up, you two. We're here." Iffy said, lightly shaking the twins. They were reluctant at first, but they did eventually stir. After pulling some bottles of water out of one of the coolers, we started to climb the numerous stairs that lead to the actual trail.

"Man, you are really out of shape." Ram teased from the top of the wood staircase.

"Y-You can shut it, kid." I said between huffs of air. "I already regret quite a few of my life choices. I don't need you harassing me too"

"Ram, be nice." Her sister scolded.

"Fine, fine. We're going up ahead." The two children, ran off, moving out of sight.

"Did someone bring the camera like my mom asked?"

"I've got it so those two don't break it. You don't know how many we've gone through back home because we trusted them with them." Blanc said with a smirk, lifting up the Canon camera that was hanging from her neck. The path was grueling, but we made it all the way through. Everyone was having fun seeing nature at its finest, as evident by the smiles on their faces. Had to keep Ram from jumping off of a ledge into shallow water though. After a short drive, we made it to Taughannock. The parking lot there was full, so we had to park across the street. It was where we were going to go anyway, so it was more convenient than anything.

"We should change into our swimsuits while we're over here." I said as we all piled out of the car. "We'll more than likely be walking in the water, and there hasn't been a time that I've been in there and HAVEN'T slipped and soaked myself."

"The rocks usually are slippery." Megan added.

"Let's find a place to change, then." Noire said, looking around for the required building. As per the stereotype of women taking longer to change, I stood outside, waiting for them. The twins were clad in one-pieces in their respective colors, the usual wrappings that they had over their arms going all the way up to the shoulder. Iffy's was a black and blue stripped bikini top with a pair of short jean shorts on over the bottoms. The three goddesses had different style bikini's that were the colors of their goddess names. Megan was in one of her many, and I'm just too lazy to describe it. Noire was constantly looking down at her stomach, which had a bulge that had grown a bit since my last entry.

"You look great." I reassured her, taking a hold of her hand.

"Thanks." After crossing the street, we got down into the waterbed as soon as possible.

"This is so cool!" Ram said, splashing around in the water that barely reached her ankle.

"I like this one better than the last. We're actually walking the ravine this time around." Blanc stated, taking some pictures of the two playing kids. As we went on, I heard a thud and a light splash from behind me.

"Ow…" Vert moaned, picking herself up.

"Yes! I wasn't the first to slip!" And that's the comment that led to me being shoved into a deeper pool of water.

"Hahaha! Serves you right!" Wow…Even my wife, the mother of my unborn child, betrays me.

"Oh, instant karma, you are the worst…" Being the vindictive man that I am, when Noire reached down to help me up, I pulled her in with me.

"H-Hey! That's not fair!"

"Sucks when karma's after you, doesn't it?" We climbed out of the pool and continued our small adventure. The incident was repeated a few times with other people in our group/family. There was also a lot of splash fights. It took us almost an hour, and several bruises to the ass, before we made it to the falls proper. An old lady there was kind enough to take a group picture of us.

"Who will be doing the cooking?" Vert asked as we set all of our picnic stuff down on one of the empty tables near one of those metal charcoal grills. Fingers went to noses before I could realize what was happening.

"God dammit…" So, after I was thrown under the bus, I cooked the hot dogs and hamburgers that we brought while the girls set up everything else. We had chips, soda, all different kinds of salads (Like my personal favorite, pasta salad), fruits and veggies, and other various goodies that Noire, Vert, and Blanc made. Iffy was kind enough to discretely use magic to start the fire, seeing as how we forgot to get any charcoal. Damn you state parks and your lack of propane and propane accessories! "Food's done!" I spoke up, walking back to the table with a serving plate full of food in hand.

"I'll go get Rom and Ram." Blanc said, making her way to the nearby playground. We all took our time, eating, joking, and enjoying ourselves. However, even with all of the time we killed, we didn't even scratch the amount of food that we brought, but meh. Lunch food for, at least, the next few days.

"Mom? Can we go build a sand castle?" Rom asked.

"Sure. Come on." The Lowee trio left, and the rest of us eventually followed. I just kind of hung out in the water while everyone did their thing. Hell, at one point Megan had teamed up with Vert to mess with whoever they could whenever they could.

"Come back here, you two! You need more sunscreen!" Blanc shouted, giving chase after her daughters mid-castle construction. Eventually, Vert wandered off, but came back with a canoe. A freaking canoe!

"I hate kids." Megan groaned, referring to the still audible sound of screaming children that was coming from the beach. The five of us had taken the canoe farther out on the lake.

"If you think this is bad, imagine what we went through when Rom and Ram started discovering their powers." Iffy said.

"Those were dark days." Noire added. "Sometimes literally. One time, they used their Devil Bringers to try and climb a telephone pole, and ended up knocking out power in a good amount of Lastation. And you weren't so innocent either, IF. The things you, Compa, and Peashy would do when you were little. Like when-"

"We don't need to talk about that!"

"Jesus…" I muttered. "Just what kind of shit did the other me manage to put up with?"

"Hellions, plain and simple." Vert answered.

"…Yeah, that sounds about right…" When we finally decided to leave, which was a few hours later, Megan insisted that we go to the bakery that we usually go to to get smoothies.

"Should we get back in line and get everyone some desserts?"

"Noire, don't tempt me like that." I responded. Before anyone could say anything, Vert was at the counter, picking out something for everyone.

The next major event that was worth any note was the graduation party of a girl from Steel Band that was a freshman when I was a senior in high school. I don't know what kind of magic they pulled, but they had tricked me into bringing them with me.

"Man, so much has changed." I said, walking through what was called the Discovery Center. "That oven used to have a door on it. The bank used to have those locker things, and this thing here used to be standing up."

"What is it?" Ram asked.

"Well, you'd on that circular platform and pull that rope. If you didn't pull it too fast you'd be surrounded by a bubble wall."

"Cool!" The two cheered with awe.

"Is this your first time here?" Emma, the guest of honor asked. The three had become friends over the course of the school year.

"Mmhm…" Rom hummed. With that answer, Emma dragged the two away, leaving me alone. Until the rain stopped, I wondered around, reminiscing on old childhood memories. Of better times. Once the rain did stop, the party moved to the garden outside, where the Steel Drum Band proceeded to set up. Smales even let the three of join in on a few songs from way back when.

Later on, everyone was bummed out when we didn't go to Highland Park like we usually did. The Fourth of July was one of Mom's holidays for the year. It was a bummer for sure, but we were still able to watch some fireworks from the backyard.

And then there was the musical…That was a train wreck. Not because the show went badly, but because the production value of the sets weren't exactly great. We only got some of the props the day of the first show. I should probably mention that the name of the musical was Legally Blonde. My favorite song from it was "There! Right there!" A line that was constantly repeated in the song was "Is he gay or European?". All in all, I had a good time, even if it was in the school I had my arms busted at.

Kate's graduation party came two weeks after that. That was a debacle in and of itself. The original deal Ken and his ex-wife had was that he'd pay for half of the stuff and she'd get the other. Turns out that that was a bunch of bullshit. Mom and Ken have had to pay for almost everything because Sue is a "wonderful" person. And setting up was an even greater bundle of fun. We were told that the fire station that the party was going to be in would be open at ten, but when me and my mom got there at eleven after picking up the cake, it was still locked. None of the tables were set up and everyone that said they'd show up early to help didn't. That meant that both parental figures present at the time were not just mad at how the event was unfolding, but at each other as well. And as such situations play out, both spent the day stewing in their anger. So much fun! Between them and all the screaming children, I ended up spending most of my time outside. My only company during these times was the occasional group of smokers. Not a fun party, if you ask me.

Let's see…The Thursday before my birthday I had to go down to the DMV. For you non-Americans that's the Department of Motor Vehicles. Basically, an endless line in a government building that moved slower than a snail. Because it was going to be my twenty-first birthday, my license was up for renewal and there was a few things I had to do. Mostly an eye exam and some paperwork for my advanced license, which would get me into Canada.

"That's…that's good, Neptune." I could hear Noire say as I walked in the door as I finally got home from the government building. "Hey, I've got to go…Mhm…I call every week…! Goodbye."

"What was that about?" I asked her.

"Neptune was just calling to let me know that she got an achievement."

"Oh, you mean that one in Overwatch that you've been trying to get?"

"The Lucio one? Yes."

"That one is hard to get. Good for her."

"Are you ready for Sunday?"

"I've already given Iffy one of my spare books to write down whatever happens."

"Why?"

"Yeah, why?" Iffy asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "I found this slid underneath my bedroom door." She added, holding up one of my spare sketch books.

"Because you don't drink, and if things play out how they did that one night, then I want all the details."

"He did way that he wanted this to be a family log…" Noire hummed.

H-Hey…Man, this doesn't get any less awkward to do. I figured that I'd start writing a day early to give everyone some context. Grandm-Deb had taken Dad and Megan out to get supplies for school in the fall. They came back and he immediately dashed to his half of the house.

"What's with him?" I asked Deb.

"I got him a game he wanted for his birthday."

"Ah, okay." As I walked into the room where all of his consoles were, I understood why he was excited. "That's…that's an intro…"

"Yeah it is! And it's only going to get better!"

"Calm down." Noire said, placing a hand on his thigh.

"No, I will not. This game is to cool." We sat on the couch for hours, Persona 5 rooting us to it.

"*Yawn* I…I think it's time for bed…" Noire yawned again before getting up. "You coming?"

"Oh, you know it."

"It's too late for your innuendos." She sounded annoyed, but Noire still had a smile on her face.

"Alright, just let me save." Taking that as my queue, I got up and headed towards the door.

"Goodnight, you two."

"'Night, Iffy."

The next day, things got…interesting. It all started off when Dad came home with a bottle of vodka. Megan was determined to be the first person to buy him alcohol, which explains the bottle. That put Deb in a bad mood though. What made her mood even worse was that almost everyone that was invited to dinner didn't show up.

"Holy crap." Blanc said, staring at her meal once it came.

"You weren't joking when you said that the portions here are large." Mom stated.

"I told you Tully's did things big." Dad replied, taking another sip of the Long Island Ice Tea that Deb's brother and his wife ordered.

"What is that, anyway?" Noire asked.

"It's got tequila, vodka, rum, triple sec, gin, and some cola." His uncle explained.

"Wait, really? I thought it was just a hard iced tea." Well, we already learned what kind of drunk he was, so this was to be expected, to say the least. At least he wasn't the giggling mess he was last time. However…he just wouldn't shut up except for when there was food going into his mouth. It was still a good time, though. The restaurant was laid back, the food was good, and it was a nice getting to sit down with the family without all the screaming children. We went home with several boxes of food because Dad was the only one of us to clean their plate.

So, Iffy wouldn't give me my book back until the day after my birthday. Something about making sure that she got the after affects. My wallet was very happy with the 210 dollars that I walked away from dinner with. I'm still waiting for the real party that Mom MUST be planning.

"Hey, come look at this." Noire said as I sat up in bed.

"What's up?" I looked over her shoulder at the news tab that my wife had open on her laptop. "The hell? How does a planet just up and disappear?"

"I don't know. All it says is that no one can find Pluto anywhere where it's supposed to be, and that there's this strange mass by the edge of the solar system."

"We should keep an eye on this. If NASA is saying that shit is not crash. Then bad things are happening."

"I'm going to ask the others if they can keep an eye on this too."

"And I'll get a hold of Johnny and Storm and let them know what's up." Johnny was the easiest to get a hold of, seeing as how I could just shoot him a message on Facebook. Storm…was a different story. I got no response to the texts and messages I sent him. I ended up just calling Nepgear and telling her what was happening.

"H-Hey, Steven?" Blanc asked hesitantly, knocking on my door well into the night.

"What's up?" I replied, setting down The Shining.

"Can you come over? Something's come up."

"Sure." I followed the bluenette into one of the rooms that they had separate from my blood family, and all of the other worlders were there. "I feel like you guys are about to give me an intervention."

"I wish it were something so easy." Iffy said with a sullen tone.

"We…have some news..." Vert continued with the same tone.

"Remember that call I got from Neptune a few days ago?" I nodded. "She was calling to let me know that Histoire had been able to get a hold of her."

"That's great. What'd she say to her?"

"W-We…don't have much more time together…" Rom muttered.

"Neptune told us that the gates that Histy is making will be up a few days before you leave for school." Ram stated.

"Oh…I see…" I couldn't help but look at Noire. More specifically, the growing bulge that her stomach has become.

"You don't seem as upset as I thought you'd be." Blanc commented.

"You should all know that I'm good at hiding what I feel. But, if she can take you guys back to Gamindustri, she can make a bridge here again, right? We could see each other whenever. Maybe I could go there sometime during one of my breaks."

"How did that slip our minds?" Vert asked all that were present.

"I don't know! Why are you asking us!?" Ram huffed.

"Don't be rude." Rom scolded her sister.

"While we're all here, why don't we do something?" I asked, turning the TV on and looking at the consoles that were underneath. "We might as well make the most of the time we have left."

"Well said." Vert agreed. With that said, we spent the rest of the night playing Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and putting the down mood behind us.

 **There! I did it, and I hate how long it took! I'm gonna hate it even more when I realize how long it'll take me to just hand-write the next one. So, sorry everybody that is super into this story, but college has my hands tied for time. Until my next update, which'll be TMTC, see ya!**


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